Indian American Lab Owner in Atlanta Convicted in Genetic Testing Scheme to Fraud Medicare
- Minal Patel, 44, who owned LabSolutions LLC., submitted over $463 million in genetic and other laboratory tests that patients did not need and that were procured through the payment of kickbacks.
An Indian American Lab Owner in Atlanta has been convicted by a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme. Minal Patel, 44, who owned LabSolutions LLC., “submitted over $463 million in genetic and other laboratory tests that patients did not need and that were procured through the payment of kickbacks,” the Department of Justice said. The lab was enrolled with Medicare, and performed sophisticated genetic tests, the DOJ said.
Patel conspired with patient brokers, telemedicine companies, and call centers to target Medicare beneficiaries with telemarketing calls “falsely stating that Medicare covered expensive cancer genetic tests,” the DOJ said, citing court documents. After the Medicare beneficiaries agreed to take a test, Patel paid “kickbacks and bribes to patient brokers to obtain signed doctors’ orders authorizing the tests from telemedicine companies,” the DOJ said. Patel concealed the kickbacks “by requiring patient brokers to sign contracts that falsely stated that they were performing legitimate advertising services for LabSolutions,” the DFOJ added.
“LabSolutions submitted more than $463 million in claims to Medicare, including for medically unnecessary genetic tests, of which Medicare paid over $187 million,” the DOJ said. In that timeframe, Patel personally received over $21 million in Medicare proceeds.
Patel was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks, four counts of paying illegal health care kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7, 2023, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the first conspiracy count, 10 years on each health care fraud count, five years on the second conspiracy count, 10 years on each kickback count, and 20 years on the third conspiracy count.