{"id":13537,"date":"2015-07-10T17:55:26","date_gmt":"2015-07-11T00:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13537"},"modified":"2015-07-10T17:55:26","modified_gmt":"2015-07-11T00:55:26","slug":"ex-doctor-serving-a-life-sentence-for-hepetitis-c-outbreak-gets-nearly-six-years-more-for-medical-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13537","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Doctor Serving a Life Sentence for Hepetitis C Outbreak Gets Nearly Six Years More for Medical Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MedicareCard<\/a>LAS VEGAS, NV<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

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.<\/p>\n

The federal judge also ordered Dipak Desai\u00a0<\/strong>to pay more than $2.2 million in restitution for inflating and overcharging for anesthesia services, according to officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Desai intentionally defrauded the federal health care system for his own personal enrichment,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden.<\/strong> \u201cWe are hopeful this closes a long and sordid chapter of harm caused to the people and businesses of Nevada.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Desai was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of 27 criminal counts related to a 2007 hepatitis C outbreak.<\/p>\n

In the medical fraud case, Tonya Rushing, the former chief operating officer of the endoscopy center<\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n

According to Desai\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

They did so by significantly overstating the amount of time the certified registered nurse anesthetists spent with patients on a given procedure, officials stated.<\/p>\n

Desai and Rushing created a separate company, Healthcare Business Solutions, owned by Rushing, to handle the billing for the anesthesia services.<\/p>\n

This company received approximately nine percent of all money collected for anesthesia services rendered at the endoscopy center.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The plea agreement states that the parties agreed that the amount of loss to the victims is about $2.2 million, according to authorities.<\/p>\n