Cardiologist receives 35 months in prison for health insurance fraud
A New Jersey cardiologist has been sentenced to 35 months in prison for coordinating a years-long healthcare fraud scheme that included nearly $2 million in false claims.
Fazal Panezai, MD, the owner of Matawan-Aberdeen Heart & Medical Center in Matawan, New Jersey, admitted to orchestrating the scheme in April. Panezai submitted false claims to at least six different health insurance benefit programs for office visits that either never happened at all, or did not happen as they were described. For instance, he once submitted claims for nearly 28 hours of work for one day’s worth of office visits.
The false claims totaled $1.9 million from January 2017 to December 2022. Panezai was also ordered to pay restitution of $1.95 million. In addition, he faces another three years of supervised release at the end of his prison sentence.
The New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners recently announced that Panezai’s medical license has been permanently revoked as a result of his participation in this scheme.
“We hold physicians to professional standards befitting the trust the public and their patients place in them,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said at the time. “When they fall short of those standards, as this doctor did, they must be held accountable.”
Local officials from the Matawan Police Department and members of the FBI worked together on this case. An undercover officer presenting as a patient played a key role in the investigation.
Panezai was facing up to 10 years in prison—the relatively short sentence suggests his guilty plea may have made a difference.
Click here to read additional details related to the case on the U.S. Department of Justice website.
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.