Meera Sachdeva was charged for defrauding federal insurance programme Medicare by submitting false claims for chemotherapy services
New York: An Indian-origin woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay a penalty of over $14 million on charges of healthcare fraud in the US, reports PTI.
Meera Sachdeva, 50 of Mississippi, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release on charges that she defrauded federal insurance programme Medicare by submitting false claims for chemotherapy services, US Attorney Gregory Davis said in a statement.
Sachdeva, who owned and operated a cancer centre, had pleaded guilty in July this year to submitting claims for chemotherapy services that were supposedly rendered when she was out of the country.
She was also ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and restitution of over $8.1 million. The forfeiture of about $6 million and property was also ordered.
She had admitted billing for more chemotherapy drugs than she actually purchased from drug suppliers from 2007 to 2011.
Her patients believed that they were receiving an amount of chemotherapy medicine that was equal to the amount being billed to their respective health care benefit programmes, but she was not providing each patient with the fully prescribed dosage of many of the billed chemotherapy drugs.
"The health care fraud perpetrated by the defendant was an abuse of public trust motivated by greed," Davis said.
Special Agent in Charge of the US Department of Health and Human Services Derrick Jackson said Sachdeva violated her duty to provide appropriate care for the patients at the cancer centre.
"Our office takes quality of care concerns very seriously, and we will vigorously investigate any provider that shortchanges patients and steals from the Medicare Trust Fund".
Inside story of the National Stock Exchange’s amazing success, leading to hubris, regulatory capture and algo scam
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
1-year online access to the magazine articles published during the subscription period.
Access is given for all articles published during the week (starting Monday) your subscription starts. For example, if you subscribe on Wednesday, you will have access to articles uploaded from Monday of that week.
This means access to other articles (outside the subscription period) are not included.
Articles outside the subscription period can be bought separately for a small price per article.
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
30-day online access to the magazine articles published during the subscription period.
Access is given for all articles published during the week (starting Monday) your subscription starts. For example, if you subscribe on Wednesday, you will have access to articles uploaded from Monday of that week.
This means access to other articles (outside the subscription period) are not included.
Articles outside the subscription period can be bought separately for a small price per article.
Fiercely independent and pro-consumer information on personal finance.
Complete access to Moneylife archives since inception ( till the date of your subscription )
