Kirtish N. Patel, Nita K. Patel could be imprisoned for 10 years.
By Raif Karerat
An Indian American couple from New Jersey who owned a mobile diagnostic testing company have admitted to receiving more than $4.3 million from Medicare and private insurance companies for diagnostic testing and reports that were never interpreted by a licensed physician, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced Tuesday.
Husband and wife Kirtish N. Patel and Nita K. Patel, both 53, pleaded guilty before a federal judge and were charged with one count of healthcare fraud.
From 2006 through June 2014,the Patels’ company, Biosound Medical Services Inc. and Heart Solutions, provided mobile diagnostic testing, including ultrasounds, echocardiograms and nerve conduction studies that were used to diagnose heart defects, blood clots, abdominal aortic aneurysms and other serious medical conditions.
Biosound technicians would travel to the office of a primary care physician in the New York and New Jersey area to conduct diagnostic testing, and Biosound was supposed to send the tests to a “reading physician”—an appropriate specialist who would interpret the results.
According to an FBI press release, Kirtish Patel admitted to fraudulently interpreting and writing diagnostic reports produced by Biosound between Oct. 2008 and June 2014 despite having no medical license and knowing that the reports would be used by the referring physicians to make important patient treatment decisions.
Nita Patel admitted she assisted husband in forging physician signatures on the fraudulently produced reports to make them seem legitimate. Nita and Kirtish Patel also admitted falsely informing Medicare that the neurological testing performed by Biosound was being supervised by a licensed neurologist.
The charge to which Kritish and Nita Patel pleaded guilty can carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; sentencing is scheduled for March 15, 2016.