A cardiologist based in New York and five other people were indicted on March 1 for their part in an alleged 12-year scheme to defraud Medicaid, Medicare and private health insurance companies out of more than $50 million.
The indictment charges the defendants, including cardiologist Asim Hameedi, with health care fraud, identity theft and making false statements. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York also filed a civil lawsuit against City Medical Associates and Hameedi, a board-certified interventional cardiologist who was the president and owner of City Medical Associates.
Authorities allege that City Medical Associates submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement to Medicare and Medicaid between 2003 and November 2015. City Medical Associates is a cardiology and neurology clinic based in Bayside, New York.
The other people charged were Fawad Hameedi, Asim Hameedi’s nephew; Arif Hameedi, Asim Hameedi’s brother; Michelle Landoy and Desiree Scott, City Medical employees; and Emad Soliman, a board-certified neurologist with a practice in Westchester, New York.
All of the defendants except for Arif Hameedi were arrested March 1. Hameedi was outside of the U.S. and not arrested.
Authorities allege that the defendants made false statements to insurance companies about medical conditions of patients to obtain preauthorization for medical tests and procedures; submitted false claims for tests and procedures that were not performed and/or were medically unnecessary; paid kickbacks to primary care offices in exchange for referrals; and violated the law by accessing electronic health records without authorization at a Long Island hospital.
They further allege that Asim Hameedi, Fawad Hameedi, Arif Hameedi, Michelle Landoy and Desiree Scott submitted false claims saying that tests had been ordered or performed by doctors who did not work at City Medical Associates or who had not ordered or performed the tests. Emad Soliman allegedly knowingly participated in the scheme.
Further, Asim Hameedi, Fawad Hameedi and Arif Hameedi allegedly paid illegal kickbacks to primary care offices, while Asim Hameedi and Fawad Hameedi allegedly accessed electronic health records at a hospital without patients’ authorization.
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.