A Kentucky physician was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for implanting medically unnecessary pacemakers in his patients to defraud government and commercial insurers, according to the Department of Justice.
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove sentenced Anis Chalhoub, MD, to 42 months in prison Oct. 30. A federal jury found Dr. Chalhoub guilty of healthcare fraud charges in April 2018.
According to evidence presented during Dr. Chalhoub's trial, the cardiologist implanted more than 230 pacemakers in patients at Saint Joseph London (Ky.) hospital, part of Louisville-based KentuckyOne Health. Between 2007 and 2011, Dr. Chalhoub implanted medically unnecessary pacemakers in dozens of patients, with some patients accusing him of presenting the pacemakers as a life or death option, according to the evidence. However, the patients were diagnosed with sinus node dysfunction, a nonfatal condition.
As a result, Medicare, Medicaid and other insurers paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims for Dr. Chalhoub's unnecessary procedures, according to the Justice Department. In addition to prison time, Dr. Chalhoub must pay a $50,000 fine and repay the defrauded insurers more than $250,000.
Following his release from prison, Dr. Chalhoub will be placed on a three-year probation, during which he will be unable to practice cardiology.
The charge against Dr. Chalhoub was the result of a larger investigation into practices at Saint Joseph London. The hospital and physicians at the institution were accused in more than 300 lawsuits of performing medically unnecessary heart procedures before the hospital's parent company at the time, Saint Joseph Health Systems, entered into a $16.5 million settlement with the federal government in January 2014. Roughly 180 of the 300 lawsuits were settled confidentially, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
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