Accusations of Medicare fraud can taint your professional and personal life. If you face allegations in such a sticky situation, you may expect criminal penalties such as incarceration and fines as well as the loss of your professional license and loss of stature within your community.
This can happen to health care professionals whether due to personal temptation or thrust into such a situation as an unwitting accomplice. Earlier this year in south-central Wisconsin, a physician was indicted on federal charges in a Medicare fraud scheme worth several millions of dollars.
Billed Medicare more than $26 million
On June 17, Edgerton physician Ravi Murabili was charged in federal court in Madison with several counts of Medicare fraud. The criminal complaint alleges that during a three-year period from January 2017 to January 2020, Murali approved orders for medical braces for a number of Medicare patients. However, the patients did not need the braces.
As a physician for telemedicine companies, Murali claimed to have spoken with each patient as well as conducted exams and tests on the patients. However, such actions rarely occurred if at all. As a result of his actions, Murali ordered the medical braces — ankle, knee, back, shoulder, wrist and hand — and fraudulently billed Medicare for more than $26 million. Medicare actually paid more than $13 million of that amount.
Murali faced previous troubles with Wisconsin’s Medical Examining Board. In 2015, he admitted to being untruthful stemming from an investigation regarding a false medical residency diploma. The board ordered him to fulfill 18 hours of education in medical ethics. Upon his completion of the requirements, Murali had his medical license returned in 2016.