Attorney General Todd Rokita announced a $700,000 settlement on behalf of Hoosiers to address allegations that a Hammond orthopedic surgeon overbilled Indiana’s Medicaid program. An investigation by Attorney General Rokita’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit uncovered abnormalities in charges billed to Medicaid by the Southeastern Medical Center (SEMC), operated by Dr. Kishan Chand. Between Jan. 1, 2016, and June 1, 2021, SEMC submitted approximately 13,101 claims indicating that medical staff performed spinal manipulation on patients who were under anesthesia. Records, however, showed no associated billing for an anesthesiologist or a hospital or surgical center and that the frequency of billing by SEMC was a substantial outlier across all Medicaid providers — all of which raised the question of whether manipulation under anesthesia had been performed at all.
