America
Indian-origin doctor gets prison in US for health insurance fraud
Houston, July 11
An Indian-origin doctor has
been sentenced to 71 months in a federal prison and ordered to repay
over $2.2 million for health insurance fraud, the Federal Bureau of
investigation announced Friday.
Dipak Desai, 65, who ran an
endoscopy centre, overcharged the US health insurance systems for senior
citizens and for the poor as well as private health insurers for
providing anesthesia services, according to Daniel G. Bogden the Nevada
federal prosecutor.
The Las Vegas doctor, who had pleaded guilty
to conspiracy and health care fraud, was sentenced by federal Judge
Larry R. Hicks. Desai.
"Dr. Desai intentionally defrauded the
federal health care system for his own personal enrichment," Bogden
said. "We are hopeful this closes a long and sordid chapter of harm
caused to the people and businesses of Nevada."
An FBI press
release said that Desai and his endoscopy company's chief operating
officer Tonya Rushing "imposed intense pressure on the endoscopy center
employees to schedule and treat as many patients as possible in a day,
and instructed the nurse anesthetists to overstate in their records the
amount of time they spent on the anesthesia procedures."
Rushing was earlier sentenced to a year in jail for her role in the scam.