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Fugitive doctor accused of fraud

Compliance Monitor, March 10, 2004

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A federal judge sentenced a Texas-based physician to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay $8.38 million in restitution for a string of Medicaid fraud charges, according to a March 2 press release from U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton.

Dr. Dippakumar "Dipak" Patel was also ordered pay $4,500 in special assessments by Judge W. Royal Furgeson of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

After completing his prison sentence, Patel must serve three years of supervised release. He operated the Midland Walk-In Clinic in Midland, Texas.

According to the U.S. Attorney release, Patel is considered a fugitive from justice for failing to appear for his trial. He was tried and sentenced in absentia.

The government showed that Patel fraudulently attempted to secure $40 million from insurance companies. The actual loss was $8.3 million, with $7.7 million coming from taxpayer-funded programs. Patel would have had to have worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week in order to have performed the work for which he billed during one seven-month period.

Patel also "upcoded" his diagnoses in order to support unnecessary testing and treatment. Medical experts testified that this unnecessary treatment could have endangered his patients.

To read the release, click here .

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