90 US healthcare professionals charged with fraud
In Brooklyn, New York, the Strike Force announced an indictment against Syed Imran Ahmed, MD, in connection with his alleged $85 million scheme involving billings for surgeries that never occurred. Dr Ahmed had been arrested last month and charged by complaint. He is now charged with healthcare fraud and making false statements.
The Brooklyn Strike Force also charged 6 other individuals, including a physician and 2 billers who allegedly concocted a $14.4 million scheme in which they recruited elderly Medicare beneficiaries and billed Medicare for medically unnecessary vitamin infusions, diagnostic tests, and physical and occupational therapy supposedly provided to these patients.
The cases are being prosecuted and investigated by Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams comprised of attorneys from the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and from the US Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Florida, the Eastern District of Michigan, the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of Texas, the Central District of California, the Middle District of Louisiana, the Northern District of Illinois and the Middle District of Florida; and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)-Office of Inspector General (OIG), and state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
About the Medicare Fraud Strike Force
This is the seventh national Medicare fraud takedown in Medicare Fraud Strike Force history. The Strike Force’s operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and the HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.
Since their inception in March 2007, Strike Force operations in 9 locations have charged almost 1900 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for almost $6 billion.
In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, has suspended enrollments of high-risk providers in 5 Strike Force locations and has removed more than 17,000 providers from the Medicare program since 2011.
The joint Department of Justice and HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force is a multi-agency team of federal, state, and local investigators designed to combat Medicare fraud through the use of Medicare data analysis techniques and an increased focus on community policing.
To learn more, visit www.stopmedicarefraud.gov. 
