United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Nishi Patel, MD, a physician who received his medical training at Drexel University, will pay $95,000 to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act by ordering medically unnecessary genetic testing for Medicare beneficiaries. Between August 2018 and May 2020, Dr. Patel referred more than 400 patients for medically unnecessary genetic tests that were paid for by Medicare. The United States alleges that Dr. Patel had no medical relationship with these patients, never examined these patients, and that the referrals were based on brief telemedicine consultations, and in some instances, no consultation. The genetic tests that Dr. Patel ordered often cost thousands of dollars per patient.
