A former owner and current owners of an Edison Adult Medical Daycare have agreed to pay $2.72 million in a settlement agreement to resolve allegations that the former owner operated the facility despite a Medicaid participation ban following his 2012 conviction for accepting kickbacks, according to Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick.
The settlement agreement with Dinesh Patel, former owner of the Edison Adult Medical Daycare on Oak Tree Road, and current owners Daxa Patel and Satish Mehtani, was announced on Sept. 27 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.
On Sept. 19, 2012, Dinesh Patel pleaded guilty to accepting cash kickback payments from Orange Community MRI LLC in exchange for patient referrals. He was later sentenced to three months in jail and two years of supervised release.
Earlier that year on March 17, 2012, Dinesh Patel was excluded by the State of New Jersey from participating in any capacity in the Medicaid program.
Two years later, on Feb. 20, 2014, Dinesh Patel was excluded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and all federal health care programs for a period of five years. Five days after Dinesh Patel’s Medicaid exclusion in 2012, he transferred his 50 percent ownership interest in Edison to his wife, Daxa Patel.
The settlement resolves federal and state government allegations that from March 17, 2012, through Aug. 4, 2015, Dinesh Patel violated his exclusion by not ceasing his involvement in the adult daycare facility, and that the daycare violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to and receiving payments from Medicaid while Dinesh Patel directed, managed and supervised activities at Edison.
The settlement also resolves allegations that owners Daxa Patel and Satish Mehtani had full knowledge that Dinesh Patel was managing the operations of the daycare while he was an excluded Medicaid provider.
Dinesh Patel, Daxa Patel, Satish Mehtani, and the daycare have agreed to pay $2.72 million plus interest to be split equally between United States and State of New Jersey.
Dinesh Patel has also agreed to another five-year exclusion precluding him from participating in all federal health care programs, including Medicaid and Medicare, until 2022.
Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert, New York Region, and the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller, Medicaid Fraud Division, under the direction of State Comptroller Philip James Degnan, with the investigation leading to the settlement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole F. Mastropieri of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark. David Fuchs of the HHS-OIG negotiated the additional period of exclusion.
Attorney Robert Fogg, Princeton, represented the Edison Adult Medical Daycare, Attorney Steven D. Feldman and Melissa L. Jampol, New York, represented Dinesh Patel, Nicholas C. Harbist, Princeton, represented Daxa Patel, and Denis F. Driscoll, Parsippany, represented Satish Mehtani.
