Minal Patel of Atlanta was sentenced today to 27 years in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting over $463 million in genetic and other laboratory tests that patients did not need, and that were procured through the payment of kickbacks and bribes. Patel owned LabSolutions LLC (LabSolutions), a lab enrolled with Medicare that performed sophisticated genetic tests. Patel conspired with patient brokers, telemedicine companies, and call centers to target Medicare beneficiaries with telemarketing calls falsely stating that Medicare covered expensive cancer genetic tests. After the Medicare beneficiaries agreed to take a test, Patel paid kickbacks and bribes to patient brokers to obtain signed doctors’ orders authorizing the tests from telemedicine companies. To conceal the kickbacks and bribes, Patel required patient brokers to sign sham contracts that falsely stated that the brokers were performing legitimate advertising services for LabSolutions, when, as Patel well knew, the brokers were deceptively marketing to Medicare beneficiaries and paying kickbacks and bribes to telemedicine companies for genetic testing prescriptions.
Patel knew the telemedicine doctors robo-signed prescriptions for expensive genetic testing even though they were not treating the beneficiaries, often did not even speak with them, and made no evaluation of medical necessity. From July 2016 through August 2019, LabSolutions submitted more than $463 million in claims to Medicare, including for thousands of medically unnecessary genetic tests, of which Medicare paid over $187 million. In that timeframe, Patel personally received over $21 million from Medicare in connection with the fraud.
The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Jamie de Boer, Emily Gurskis, Reginald Cuyler Jr., Katherine Rookard, and Patrick Queenan of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marx Calderon for the Southern District of Florida is handling asset forfeiture proceedings. An asset forfeiture hearing is JEFFREY NEWMAN IS A WHISTLEBLOWER LAWYER WHO HANDLES HEALTHCARE FRAUD CASES NATIONWIDE. HE CAN BE REACHED AT JEFF@JEFFNEWMANLAW.COM OR BY CALLING 617-823-3217
