Raheel Naviwala, 36, of Coral Springs, was convicted by a federal jury on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, one count of health care fraud, conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, and three counts of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, according to a March 6 Justice Department news release. He was also acquitted on two counts of healthcare fraud.
The Justice Department said that Mr. Naviwala and his co-conspirators bought Medicare patient lists and used telemarketers to convince patients to get unnecessary orthopedic braces. He then paid telemedicine physicians to sign the pre-filled prescriptions for the braces. Generally, the telemedicine doctor did not even speak to the patients before signing the pre-filled prescriptions.
He then sold the signed prescriptions to durable medical equipment supply companies that could bill Medicare, Tricare and other insurers for the braces. He disguised the scheme with sham contracts and invoices. He also owned a durable medical equipment company that billed Medicare for up to nine braces for a single patient.
Medicare and other insurers paid at least $100 million for durable medical equipment associated with Mr. Naviwala’s companies. He personally pocketed more than $10 million of the fraudulent proceeds.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 29.
