United States settles claims of durable medical equipment fraud against Wilmington physician

United States settles claims of durable medical equipment fraud against Wilmington physician
DOJ press release; 9/11/24
WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss announced today that Dr. Vishal Patel, a Wilmington physician, has agreed to pay $1,080,000 to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act by ordering medically unnecessary durable medical equipment for patients covered by Medicare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). Between February 2018 and April 2019, Dr. Patel referred patients for more than 1750 orthotic devices, including wrist, shoulder, knee, ankle, and back braces. The United States alleges that Dr. Patel had no medical relationship with these patients and that the referrals were based on brief reviews of the patients’ medical charts, which failed to establish any legitimate medical justification for the devices. Medicare and FEHBP paid, on average, more than $400 for each device. Patient files were provided to Dr. Patel by RediDoc, LLC, a purported telemedicine company based in Phoenix, Arizona whose owners pleaded guilty to participation in a $64 million health care fraud conspiracy in May 2022.