The owner of a Louisiana hospice facility was convicted on all 23 counts against him for his role in a $62 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Shiva Akula, MD, 67, of New Orleans, was the owner and operator of Canon Healthcare, which had offices in the New Orleans area, Baton Rouge and Gulfport, Miss., according to a Nov. 8 Justice Department news release. Between January 2013 and December 2019, Canon's New Orleans-area office billed Medicare $62 million, of which $47 million was paid.
The charges against Dr. Akula included overbilling for hospice patients for general inpatient services to fraudulently maximize reimbursement from Medicare and manipulating CPT codes, according to the release.
He is set to be sentenced Feb. 21.