{"id":28790,"date":"2017-01-10T12:03:50","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T20:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28790"},"modified":"2017-01-10T12:03:50","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T20:03:50","slug":"neurosurgeon-sentenced-to-nearly-20-years-in-prison-for-2-8-million-healthcare-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=28790","title":{"rendered":"Neurosurgeon Sentenced to Nearly 20 Years in Prison for Performing Unnecessary Spinal Surgeries"},"content":{"rendered":"

MICHIGAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Detroit-area neurosurgeon was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for his role in $2.8 million health care fraud scheme in which he caused serious bodily harm to patients by convincing them that they needed spinal surgeries when they did not, officials announced Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Aria
Aria O. Sabit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aria O. Sabit<\/strong> admitted that he profited by convincing patients to undergo spinal fusion surgeries with medical devices designed to stabilize and strengthen the spine that he never performed.<\/span><\/p>\n

He also billed public and private healthcare benefit programs for those fraudulent services.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabit, 43, of Birmingham, Michigan, pleaded guilty to four counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, resulting in losses to Medicare, Medicaid and various private insurance companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabit was a licensed neurosurgeon who owned and operated the Michigan Brain and Spine Physicians Group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabit further admitted that, in some instances, he operated on patients and dictated in his operative reports \u2013 which he knew would later be used to support fraudulent insurance claims.<\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, Sabit fraudulently billed public and private health care programs for instrumentation when, in fact, he used cortical bone dowels made of tissue. Sabit failed to render services in relation to lumbar and thoracic fusion surgeries, including in certain instances, billing for implants that were not provided.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before moving to Michigan, Sabit was a resident of Ventura, California, and a licensed neurosurgeon in California. <\/span><\/p>\n

Around February 2010, while he was on the staff of a California hospital, he became involved with Apex Medical Technologies LLC or Apex, which was owned by another neurosurgeon and three non-physicians, according to Sabit’s plea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"JusticeIn exchange for the opportunity to invest in Apex and share in its profits, Sabit agreed to convince his hospital to buy spinal implant devices from Apex and to use a substantial number Apex spinal implant devices in his surgical procedures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabit further admitted that he and Apex\u2019s co-owners concealed Sabit\u2019s involvement in Apex from the hospitals and surgical centers.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition Sabit admitted that the financial incentives provided to him by Apex and his co-conspirators caused him to use more spinal implant devices than were medically necessary to treat his patients in order to generate more sales revenue for Apex, which resulted in serious bodily injury to his patients. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sabit also admitted that, on a few occasions, the money he made from using Apex spinal implant devices motivated him either to refer patients for unnecessary spine surgeries or for more complex procedures that they did not need.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabit also is a defendant in two civil False Claims Act cases brought by the Justice Department in California. <\/span><\/p>\n

These cases remain pending.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MICHIGAN Detroit-area neurosurgeon was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for his role in $2.8 million health care fraud scheme in which he caused serious bodily harm to patients by convincing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nNeurosurgeon Sentenced to 20 Years for Performing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MICHIGAN Detroit-area neurosurgeon was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for his role in $2.8 million health care fraud scheme in which he caused\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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