Couple jailed for 6 yrs for health care fraud

NEWARK, NJ – Two Rockaway, New Jersey, residents who owned a mobile diagnostic testing company have been sentenced to over six years in prison for receiving more than $4.8 million from Medicare and private insurance companies for diagnostic testing and reports that were never interpreted by a licensed physician.

The announcement of the jail term was made by US Attorney Paul J. Fishman

Kirtish N. Patel, 54, and Nita K. Patel, 53, were sentenced to 100 and 78 months in prison, respectively. Both defendants previously pleaded guilty before US District Judge William H. Walls to separate information charging them each with one count of health care fraud. Judge Walls imposed the sentences in a Newark federal court last week.

The couple pleaded guilty to complaints charging them with healthcare fraud. The government claimed the duo created fraudulent diagnostic test reports, forged physician signatures on the reports and then billed Medicare.

The complaint also alleged that the Patels billed Medicare for neurological tests that they conducted without the required physician supervision.