On Wednesday, it was announced that a New York surgeon had been sentenced to 156 months in prison for his involvement in a scheme that involved the submission of millions of dollars in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. 51-year-old Syed Imran Ahmed of Glen Head, New York was sentenced to prison by United States District Judge Dora L. Irizarry. The defendant was convicted following an 11-day trial in July 2016. He was convicted of one count of health care fraud, three counts of making false statements related to health care matters and two counts of money laundering.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Ahmed practiced at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, Franklin Hospital, and Mercy Medical Center. The defendant billed the Medicare program for incision-and-drainage and wound debridement procedures that were not performed.
Ahmed wrote lists of phony surgeries and sent the lists to his billing company in Michigan. He gave them instructions that the services should be billed to Medicare. The defendant also instructed the company to bill the surgeries as though they were carried out in an operating room, so he could increase the payout. As a result of Ahmed’s actions, Medicare paid more than $7 million for fraudulent claims. Again, Syed Imran Ahmed has been sentenced to 156 months in prison for his crimes.
Additional details have been made available here.