Venkateswara Kuchipudi, MD, was among four physicians and two hospital executives arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation nearly a year ago in connection with the FBI’s investigation into payments to physicians in exchange for patient referrals to Sacred Heart Hospital.
Federal prosecutors dismissed all charges against Dr. Kuchipudi a month before the grand jury issued its first indictments in October 2013.
Dr. Kuchipudi has now been re-charged in the case and identified in a federal affidavit as one of the hospital’s most prolific sources of patients, according to a Crain’s Chicago Business report.
The new indictment also adds two new defendants to the case — former Sacred Heart COO Clarence Nagelvoort and Jagdish Shah, MD — and alleges that the kickback scheme stretched back to at least 2001, according to the report.
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