The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas has announced a $948,359.85 settlement with Dr. Basem Hamid of Pearland to resolve allegations of Medicare fraud. Dr. Hamid was accused of falsely billing Medicare for the surgical implantation of neurostimulator electrodes while actually performing electro-acupuncture.
According to U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani, from August 27, 2019 to October 3, 2022, Hamid repeatedly billed Medicare for the full cost of surgically implanting electrodes. These procedures are highly invasive and require an operating room, which significantly increases Medicare’s reimbursement per procedure.
However, Hamid and his staff allegedly never performed any surgeries. Instead, they provided patients with electro-acupuncture devices, a process that involves inserting a wire into the ear and securing the neurostimulator behind the ear with adhesive tape. These procedures were conducted at Hamid’s personal clinic, which lacked operating rooms.
Several former patients have reported that the adhesive often failed within a few days, causing the devices to fall off on their own.
Special Agent in Charge Jason E. Meadows of the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General (DHHS-OIG) pointed out that, “When health care professionals submit false claims to federal health care programs like Medicare, they erode public trust and divert taxpayer-funded resources away from those who truly need them. Dr. Hamid not only exploited Medicare for personal financial gain but also misled some of our most vulnerable citizens, according to the allegations.” This case was a joint investigation between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DHHS-OIG.
However, this is far from the only case of healthcare fraud in recent months.
Just a few weeks ago, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced another settlement of over $2 million involving a man from Sugar Land facing strikingly similar allegations. Dr. Rajesh Bindal, who practiced at Texas Spine & Neurosurgery Center P.A., was accused of billing Medicare for surgical electrode implantation while allegedly only placing an electro-acupuncture device in the ear without performing any actual surgery.
In mid-October, Mohamad Mokbel of Houston was convicted on 15 counts of various charges for orchestrating a massive Medicare fraud scheme involving the fraudulent billing of expensive topical creams. From 2014 to 2021, Mokbel operated a company called 4M Pharmaceuticals, which managed 14 pharmacies.
Court evidence revealed that Mokbel targeted elderly diabetic patients who needed testing supplies for blood sugar management. He instructed employees at his pharmaceutical company to use patients’ data to submit insurance claims to Medicare, determining whether Medicare would cover the costs of topical creams, pills, and other medications sold by his company at significantly inflated prices.
In total, Mokbel made over $200 million by purchasing patients’ private information without their knowledge and using it to bill Medicare for medications the patients never requested.
In September, Juan Martin Flores, a 46-year-old counselor, was indicted on 10 counts of health care fraud, involving approximately $2 million in Medicaid payments, along with three counts of aggravated identity theft. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Flores claimed to have provided counseling services from his office in Brownsville, but he never delivered those services.
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