Saima Syed, MD, Atlanta Medical and Aesthetic Center, Inc. d/b/a AIM Medical Center (“Syed Practice Group”), and Rehan Syed have agreed to pay $225,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by, among other things, billing the government for office visits that were not medically necessary, were not provided as claimed, and were not supported by patient medical records. This settlement resolves allegations that from January 2, 2018, to February 12, 2021, Saima Syed knowingly submitted false claims to federal healthcare programs for office visits that were not as complex or lengthy as Saima Syed purported. This is a practice commonly known as “upcoding.” The government also alleged that Saima Syed submitted claims of certain office visits to federal healthcare programs as though she had personally provided the service, even though she was travelling out of the country at the time these services were allegedly performed. The settlement also resolves allegations in a lawsuit filed by Herretta Pickens and Tahirah McCloud, both of whom are former Syed Practice Group employees, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act.
