A Georgia laboratory owner has been convicted of fraudulently claiming money from Medicare for expensive genetic testing that wasn't necessary, enriching himself with over $21 million in the process.
Minal Patel, 44, owner of LabSolutions, billed $463 million to Medicare for such genetic and other laboratory testing from July 2016 to August 2019, approximately $187 million of which was paid. Mr. Patel, who will be sentenced in March, faces multiple years in prison.
A federal jury in Florida found that Mr. Patel conspired with patient brokers, telemedicine companies and call centers to target Medicare beneficiaries with telemarketing calls falsely stating that Medicare covered such tests, the U.S. Justice Department said Dec. 14. Mr. Patel paid kickbacks and bribes to patient brokers to obtain signed physicians' orders authorizing the tests.
The case was brought as part of Operation Double Helix, a federal law enforcement action focused on fraudulent genetic cancer testing that has resulted in charges against dozens of defendants associated with telemedicine companies and cancer genetic testing laboratories.