U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced that two Fresno physicians and their respective medical corporations have agreed to pay more than $2.4 million to resolve allegations of involvement in an illegal kickback scheme, which involved receiving payments for prescribing medications through specific mail-order pharmacies. This is a significant development in terms of medical ethics and legal accountability. Kickbacks, which by definition compromise the integrity of medical judgment and drive up healthcare costs, will not go unpunished, and those who engage in them will not make money off of American patients and taxpayers, Talbert’s office has made plain.
In order to resolve the claims, podiatrist Dr. Jagpreet Mukker and his medical corporation, Jay Mukker, DPM Inc., are paying $1,598,891. Mukker admitted and agreed not to contest that, between 2016 and 2020, he accepted payments linked to prescriptions he wrote to a chain of mail-order pharmacies run by a certain Matthew H. Peters. Through dubious investment arrangements, Mukker received payouts that were significant in comparison to the initial investment he made, as revealed in the settlement. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, descriptions like “reward[] for scripts” suggested a direct exchange of money for patient prescriptions and raised questions about the motivations underlying Dr. Mukker’s prescribing practices.
Additionally, the settlement admits that Dr. Mukker submitted fraudulent claims for Medicare reimbursements for peripheral venous investigations that were actually not covered by Medicare but were passed off as covered physician services. In order to deceive the federal health program, Dr. Mukker’s clinic used a billing code for an evaluation and management service that did not match what had been provided to the patient. According to a press release from the Justice Department, Amitabh Goswami, D.O., a pain medicine expert from Fresno, and his California Pain Consultants organization negotiated a separate settlement of $835,000 for engaging in similar malpractices.
The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General have been at the forefront of the investigation into these transactions and have been instrumental in putting an end to these dishonest activities. HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Steven J. Ryan has stated a strong commitment to upholding Medicare’s integrity while guaranteeing that patients’ health is not jeopardized. “Kickback schemes jeopardize medical decision-making and undermine the integrity of the Medicare program,” Ryan claimed on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Thiess and Steve Tennyson handled the case and helped win these settlements, which should be a clear message that the healthcare system’s wrongdoing will be scrutinized and subject to legal consequences.
In an effort to increase accountability, the United States filed a lawsuit against Peters and several affiliated companies for violating the False Claims Act. The lawsuit, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, is still pending and focuses on the kickback scheme that resulted in the current settlements.
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