Indian doc gets 9 years for health-care fraud

POTOMAC, MD — A Maryland judge sentenced a Potomac doctor to nine years in prison for his role in a $3.1-million health-care fraud.

Paramjit Singh Ajrawat, 60, was charged with counts, including health-care fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced earlier this week in US District Court in Greenbelt by Judge Deborah K. Chasanow.

He was also ordered to pay $3.1 million in restitution.

According to prosecutors, Ajrawat specialized in “interventional pain management” and with his wife, who is also a doctor, owned and operated a clinic, called Washington Pain Management Center, in Greenbelt.

In September 2015, a federal jury convicted Ajrawat and his wife, Sukhveen Kaur Ajrawat, 57. His wife died in February, and the charges against her were dismissed.

In trial, evidence was presented that showed how the couple defrauded federal health benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. The defrauding efforts happened from January 2011 to May 2014.

The couple filed claims, officials said, for procedures that were not performed. They had several schemes, including filing claims for procedures that gave higher reimbursement amounts than what they had actually done to a patient. And in some cases, they filed claims for procedures they had never done.

In one instance, the couple turned in claims that Ajrawat had given nerve block injections to a patient using imaging guidance machines, prosecutors said. But he did not own or use such a machine.

In a statement, US Attorney for Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein said, “This lengthy sentence sends a powerful message that doctors who defraud health insurance programs will be held accountable.”