SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Azizulah “Aziz” Kamali and his medical corporation, Aziz Kamali, M.D. Inc., have agreed to pay $1,963,953 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting millions of dollars of false claims to Medicare for surgically implanted neurostimulators and paying kickbacks to sales marketers, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced today.
According to the settlement, Dr. Kamali and his medical corporation admitted that they submitted claims to Medicare for surgically implanted neurostimulator devices even though they did not perform surgery or implant neurostimulators. Dr. Kamali and Kamali Inc. admitted that they instead taped a disposable electroacupuncture device called “Stivax” to their patients’ ears. Stivax devices do not require surgical implantation and are not reimbursable by Medicare. The government alleges that this conduct violated the False Claims Act.
“The defendants falsely claimed that they conducted expensive and invasive surgical procedures to dishonestly obtain millions of dollars from Medicare,” said U.S. Attorney Talbert. “Working with our partners at the Department of Health and Human Services, we identified a substantial number of false claims that enabled our Office to make a significant recovery of taxpayer dollars.”
“This provider egregiously exploited the trust of his patients for illegitimate financial gain,” said Steven J. Ryan, Special Agent in Charge with the HHS-OIG. “HHS-OIG will not hesitate to investigate and thwart any attempts at defrauding federal health care programs.”
Dr. Kamali and his medical corporation also admitted that they paid a marketing company a percentage of the reimbursements they received from Medicare for billing implantable neurostimulators, in return for the marketing company arranging for and recommending that patients order Stivax from them. The United States alleges that this conduct violated the Anti‑Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act.
In addition to paying the civil settlement, Dr. Kamali and Kamali Inc. have agreed to enter into an Integrity Agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). The Integrity Agreement requires that Dr. Kamali and Kamali Inc. implement specific compliance measures, including training on applicable health care fraud laws and contracting with an Independent Review Organization that will conduct third-party audits of the medical necessity of their Medicare claims.
HHS-OIG conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew R. Belz handled the case for the United States.
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| Component | USAO - California, Eastern; |
| OIG | Department of Health and Human Services OIG |