Owner of an Indian-Origin Lab is Imprisoned for a Nearly $500 Million Genetic Test Scam

 Owner of an Indian-Origin Lab is Imprisoned for a Nearly $500 Million Genetic Test Scam

Medicare received more than 463 million dollars in claims from LabSolutions between July 2016 and August 2019—including claims for thousands of medically pointless genetic tests—for which Medicare paid out over 187 million dollars.

Harris, Texas: An Indian-origin laboratory owner form the US state of Georgia was found guilty of participating in a three-year, USD 463 million genetic testing fraud scheme and received a 27-year jail term.

For his part in the plot to cheat Medicare by submitting over USD 463 million in genetics and other medical tests that patients did not require and were obtained via the payment of kickbacks and bribes, Minal Patel, the owner of LabSolutions LLC, was sentenced to 27 years in jail on Friday.

According to the Department of Justice, the 44-year-old colluded with patient brokers, telemedicine businesses, and call centres to make telemarketing calls to Medicare recipients while fraudulently claiming that their plan covered pricey cancer genetic testing.

The government claimed in a news statement that once the Medicare beneficiaries consented to participate in the tests, Patel paid bribes and kickbacks to patient brokers in order to get signed physician orders authorising the tests from telemedicine businesses.

Patel made the patient brokers sign agreements that falsely claimed they were providing genuine advertising services for LabSolutions in order to disguise the payments.

Medicare received more than 463 million dollars in claims from LabSolutions between July 2016 and August 2019—including claims for thousands of medically pointless genetic tests—for which Medicare paid out over 187 million dollars.

Patel got more than USD 21 million from Medicare over that time period as a result of the scam.

According to Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. "Deception, kickbacks, and corruption have no place in the provision of genuine genetic counselling and telemedicine services to patients who need them," according to Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office.

Patel defrauded Medicare out of hundreds of millions of dollars by running a sophisticated testing fraud enterprise. 

The investigation was conducted as part of Operation Double Helix, a federal law enforcement operation run by the Health Care Fraud Strike Force under the direction of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division.

Charges were brought against dozens of individuals connected to telemedicine firms and cancer genetic testing labs for their alleged involvement in one of the biggest healthcare fraud schemes ever prosecuted. Its primary focus was on fraudulent genetic cancer testing.

An asset forfeiture hearing is planned on August 25 according to the news release.