LAS VEGAS, NV
A former doctor and owner of a defunct Nevada endoscopy center on Thursday received a six year and 11 month prison sentence for defrauding Medicare, Medicaid and other private health insurance companies.
The federal judge also ordered Dipak Desai to pay more than $2.2 million in restitution for inflating and overcharging for anesthesia services, according to officials.
“Dr. Desai intentionally defrauded the federal health care system for his own personal enrichment,” said U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden. “We are hopeful this closes a long and sordid chapter of harm caused to the people and businesses of Nevada.”
Desai, 65, of Las Vegas, plead guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of health care fraud.
In 2013, Desai was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of 27 criminal counts related to a 2007 hepatitis C outbreak.
In the medical fraud case, Tonya Rushing, the former chief operating officer of the endoscopy center, was sentenced in May to one year and one day in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
According to Desai’s guilty plea agreement, between about January 2005 and February 2008, Desai and Rushing conspired to overcharge Medicare, Medicaid, and other private health insurance companies at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada.
They did so by significantly overstating the amount of time the certified registered nurse anesthetists spent with patients on a given procedure, officials stated.
Desai and Rushing created a separate company, Healthcare Business Solutions, owned by Rushing, to handle the billing for the anesthesia services.
This company received approximately nine percent of all money collected for anesthesia services rendered at the endoscopy center.
Desai and 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.
Desai and Rushing also instructed the office staff to rely on the false anesthesia records when preparing the claims for reimbursement which were sent to Medicare, Medicaid and the insurance companies, officials stated.
The plea agreement states that the parties agreed that the amount of loss to the victims is about $2.2 million, according to authorities.
The hepatitis C. outbreak resulted in the death of 77-year-old Rodolfo Meana. Desai was convicted of second-degree murder for his death, according to a 13 Action News report
This is what the TV station also reported:
Lakeman, age 66, was convicted of 6 criminal counts although he was not convicted on the murder charge
Another nurse, Keith Mathahas, accepted a plea deal and agreed to testify against Desai during his trial.
Another patient, 73-year-old Michael Washington, died in August but charges have not yet been filed in that case.
During the trial, prosecutors said Desai’s clinic used unsafe injection practices involving the anesthetic propofol.
The outbreak was disclosed by the Southern Nevada Health District in 2008. Desai did not go to trial until earlier this year because of health problems.
Desai has reportedly suffered several small strokes in the past few years but was eventually declared competent to stand trial.