Cardiologist charged with fraud for allegedly altering patient records, billing for unnecessary procedures
Niranjan Mittal, a cardiologist based out of Brooklyn, New York, has been arrested due to his alleged participation in a fraud scheme that involved fabricating patient records, making illegal referrals and billing the U.S. government for medically unnecessary interventional cardiology procedures.
In total, Mittal is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, one count of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and one count of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute. Combined, these counts carry a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison.
According to the indictment, Mittal operated a Brooklyn clinic that treated “a patient base consisting of many individuals of limited economic means who were insured by government healthcare programs.” While running this clinic, Mittal would allegedly send payments to other healthcare providers that were said to be leases for additional office space—but they were actually payments for these other providers to refer their patients to Mittal’s own clinic. Mittal would then allegedly convince the patients they required medically unnecessary treatments, billing Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance providers for the procedures in addition to changing patient records so that it appeared the treatments were necessary.
Some patients underwent more than ten procedures as a part of this scheme, the indictment alleges. Often, this did not lead to any improvements in the health of these patients. The U.S. government estimates that Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance providers were billed for more than $100 million in fraudulent procedures.
“We put our faith in doctors and trust their expertise,” Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a prepared statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. “As alleged, Dr. Niranjan Mittal betrayed that trust. He subjected patients to surgical procedures that they did not need. He directed his staff to make up patient symptoms in medical records to justify these unnecessary procedures so he could receive lucrative insurance payments, and he bribed other doctors to send him their patients.”
“Mittal’s alleged schemes were devoid of concern for his patients, and his practice to treat certain patients with unnecessary procedures is outright dangerous,” added Thomas Fattorusso, special agent in charge of the New York field office of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation division. “Today’s arrest ensures that he will no longer be able to continue his fraud and victimize those who sought legitimate care and treatment.”
The statement emphasized that these remain allegations at this time. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.