Babu is the owner of Anik Life Sciences Medical Corp.
AB Wire
WASHINGTON, DC: Chicago-based physician Satish Narayanappa Babu, who is the owner of Anik Life Sciences Medical Corp., has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for Medicare fraud and illegally prescribing controlled substance medications.
Babu was sentenced on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty last September to illegally prescribing oxycodone and other controlled substances and fraudulently billing Medicare approximately $500,000 and fraudulently collecting approximately $216,000, for services he did not provide.
U.S. District Court Judge John Tharp also imposed a term of three years of supervised release and a restitution amount of $221,012. He will begin his sentence on May 13. His medical license has also been suspended.
Babu agreed to forfeit the fraudulent amount seized at the time of his arrest and it will be credited toward the restitution ordered. He also forfeited three cars — a 2013 BMW, a 2001 BMW, and 2010 Lexus.
According to the complaint last year in February, when he was arrested, between November 2012 and December 2013, Babu issued five prescriptions, each for 60 doses of 80mg strength OxyContin, to a patient who was actually an undercover agent, despite never having seen or examined the patient.
Babu permitted unlicensed personnel associated with Anik Life Sciences to issue prescriptions to the patient, according to the Justice Department. During the same period, Babu allegedly submitted false claims to Medicare for services purportedly provided to the patient that were not rendered by Babu or another medical professional licensed in Illinois.
The undercover agent posed as a healthy individual purportedly covered by Medicare and seeking physician services to obtain prescription medication, including oxycodone. The agent further purported to have shoulder pain from a previous injury and to be on disability. On approximately 10 occasions, representatives from Anik Life Sciences, none of whom were licensed as physicians, nurses, or other medical professionals in Illinois, visited the undercover agent in his purported apartment.
Babu allegedly caused unlicensed personnel from Anik Life Sciences to provide purported medical care―including prescriptions issued under Babu’s name and DEA registration number for controlled substances―to the undercover agent and then billed Medicare for that purported care. Furthermore, the approximately 300 OxyContin pills that Babu allegedly prescribed to the undercover agent were paid for in large part by Medicare.