NEW YORK – A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a Yonkers cardiologist to three years in prison for health care fraud and ordered him to pay $2 million in forfeiture and restitution, officials said.
Rohan Wijetilaka, 65, who maintained an office in Yonkers in Westchester County, plead guilty in June.
“Sworn to use his education and skills to comfort and heal, Wijetilaka instead resorted to fraud on a massive scale, abusing the trust placed in him by his patients and by the community,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated.
In July 2007, Wijetilaka received written notice from the New York State Department of Health, State Board for Professional Medical Conduct that he was the subject of a State Board investigation.
In November 2011, the State Board informed Wijetilaka of the formal charges of professional misconduct relating, in part, to alleged fraudulent billing.
In June 2012, after multiple hearings, a State Board committee found against Wijetilaka on 41 specifications of professional misconduct, including fraudulent billing, filing false reports, and failing to maintain adequate medical records.
Between 2009 and 2011, Wijetilaka routinely performed medical procedures at the ‘Wijetilaka Practice’ for which Wijetilaka and the Wijetilaka Practice submitted claims to health insurance providers.
A video was taken of Wijetilaka’s arrest by law enforcement.
During this period, Wijetilaka submitted millions of dollars of claims to Medicare alone.
Medicare was billed by Wijetilaka for practices and procedures that were medically unnecessary and served no meaningful diagnostic purpose. Also Wijetilaka falsely billed for office visits that did not occur and falsely reported non-existent symptoms to justify costly and unnecessary diagnostic tests, officials said.
In order to attract additional patients to the Wijetilaka Practice and maintain existing patients, Wijetilaka would and did provide controlled substances, including oxycodone, to drug-seeking patients, in exchange for those patients undergoing unnecessary diagnostic tests and other Medical Procedures.
Despite being on notice that he was under State Board investigation in July 2007, and being formally charged with professional misconduct by the State Board, Wijetilaka continued his illicit scheme.
To conceal his scheme from the State Board, Wijetilaka generated additional false records to justify tests that he had performed.