Minal Patel, 44, of Atlanta has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for orchestrating a scheme that defrauded Medicare of more than $463 million through unnecessary genetic and laboratory tests, according to a new statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Patel was the owner of LabSolutions, a genetic testing company operating out of Georgia. The company was registered with Medicare to perform sophisticated genetic testing. Court documents reveal that Patel collaborated with patient brokers, telemedicine firms and call centers to target Medicare beneficiaries, promising to cover certain genetic tests for cancer. Patel paid kickbacks and bribes to patient brokers to obtain fraudulent doctors’ orders from telemedicine companies, authorizing the costly genetic tests even when not medically required.
Between July 2016 and August 2019, LabSolutions submitted over $463 million in claims to Medicare, receiving over $187 million in payouts. According to details from sentencing, Patel personally profited more than $21 million from the fraudulent scheme during this period.
Source: Lab owner gets 27 years in prison for $463M Medicare fraud scheme / Health Exec