Fraud and Abuse

On December 14, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and other agencies announced the indictment of Niranjan Mittal, a Brooklyn cardiologist, on multiple fraud charges. Mittal allegedly fabricated patient records, paid physicians for patient referrals, and billed for medically unnecessary procedures. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also filed a civil fraud…

A September 29 article in NutraIngredients-USA, “New Jersey Man Arrested for Selling Counterfeit Supplements on Amazon,” discussed the arrest of Brad Snyder of Marlton, NJ, for allegedly counterfeiting Pure Encapsulations and Nature M.D. branded products and selling them online. Rivkin Radler’s Steve Shapiro was quoted in the article.

Steve noted the seriousness…

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced on September 18 that cardiologist Klaus Peter Rentrop and his practice, Gramercy Cardiac Diagnostic Services, P.C., agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle allegations that they violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law. Rentrop admitted to paying physicians millions of dollars in…

The American Bar Association has published the second edition of “The Federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Safe Harbors: A History and Practice Guide.” Written by Geoffrey R. Kaiser and Ada Janocinska, the book is a comprehensive reference for one of the nation’s most commonly cited, investigated and enforced health care fraud and abuse laws.

The book…

On August 18, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) published an Advisory Opinion warning that a common arrangement under which surgeons profit from referrals of their patients for intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) services can violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). The Advisory Opinion, the first significant public commentary on…

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey recently announced that Alexander Schleider of Lakewood pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud in a durable medical equipment (DME) kickback scheme.

Schleider owned and operated several DME companies that provided orthotic braces to beneficiaries of Medicare and other healthcare benefit programs regardless of…

On September 14, Rivkin Radler’s Jeff Kaiser will participate on a panel at Practising Law Institute’s Life Sciences 2023: Navigating Legal Challenges in Drug and Device Industries program in New York City.

Held at PLI’s New York Conference Center at 1177 Sixth Avenue, the program will cover the explosive growth of digital health and the…

New York State Attorney General Letitia James recently announced that the owner and manager of Santiago Pharmacy in Flushing, Queens, were indicted for paying kickbacks to Medicaid recipients in exchange for filling their HIV prescriptions at the pharmacy.

Juan Poveda, the owner, and Javier Burbano, the pharmacy manager, were charged with grand larceny, health care…

The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that Morris Park Nursing Home, a skilled nursing facility in the Bronx, and two individuals agreed to pay a total of $3.46 million to resolve federal Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act violations. The schemes included paying cash kickbacks to a supervisor at a nearby hospital in exchange…