Louisville, KY – Mangesh Kanvinde, M.D., of Batavia, Ohio, has paid $720,000 and agreed to be excluded from Federal Health Care Programs for fifteen years for his role in a scheme to order unnecessary durable medical equipment and genetic tests. The DME he ordered included commonly used braces for knees, ankles, shoulders, and the back and neck. The genetic tests he ordered included testing for the inherited genetic variants that are associated with a high to moderate increased risk of cancer. As part of the civil settlement with the United States, Dr. Kanvinde also agreed to make additional payments contingent upon his income over the next five years.
The United States alleged that, between December 5, 2016, through June 20, 2019, Dr. Kanvinde violated the False Claims Act by knowingly conspiring to submit and causing the submission of false claims to Medicare. The United States alleged that Dr. Kanvinde had improper financial arrangements with temporary physician staffing agencies and telehealth companies to furnish DME and genetic testing items and services and that he received illegal kickbacks in exchange for ordering medically unnecessary DME and genetic tests and services. The United States further alleged that Dr. Kanvinde had no physician-patient relationship with the Medicare beneficiaries, often did not speak with the beneficiaries, and knew his prescribed goods and services were not medically necessary.
“We will continue to vigorously pursue medical providers who violate federal law by engaging in illicit schemes which include the filing of false claims seeking Medicare reimbursement,” said Michael A. Bennett, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. “I commend the HHS-OIG and AUSAs Malloy and Weyand for their outstanding effort in this matter.”
“Physicians who use their position of trust in schemes to submit false claims to Medicare for their own financial gain undermine the integrity of taxpayer-funded federal health care programs and the public’s trust in the health care profession,” said Special Agent in Charge Tamala E. Miles with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Our agency is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that bad actors are held accountable for their actions.”
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica R. C. Malloy and A. Matthew Weyand handled the matter.
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| Component | USAO - Kentucky, Western; |
| OIG | Department of Health and Human Services OIG |