Medical Biller Charged With Stealing $1 Million in Workers’ Compensation Payments

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the arrest and arraignment of a New Jersey man for allegedly stealing more than $1 million that was intended to be paid to doctors who provided medical care to injured workers covered under workers’ compensation.

Prosecutors said Amrish Patel, who provided billing services to a Brooklyn-based orthopedic surgery practice, allegedly submitted falsified claim forms to the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) to steal at least $1.1 million in workers’ compensation reimbursements for himself.

Patel and his two companies — Medlink Services, Inc. and Medlink Partners, LLC — have been charged with 27 felony counts for the thefts they allegedly committed from January 2012 through January 2019.

The charges are accusations only and Patel is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

According to the 27-count complaint, Patel diverted payments that were intended for surgeons who provided health care services to workers’ compensation claimants.

Under the law, authorized providers are reimbursed for their treatment of injured workers by the insurance carrier for the employer. Under the terms of their client agreement, Patel submitted bills for surgical procedures to NYSIF, the workers’ compensation carrier in this instance, and then the payments would subsequently be issued directly to the surgical practice or its doctors. In exchange for these transactions, Patel and his companies were paid monthly service fees.

However, Patel allegedly submitted falsified claim forms to NYSIF and requested that the payments be sent to his companies instead of the doctors. In total, Patel allegedly stole at least $1.1 million in payments originally intended for three doctors for services provided between January 1, 2012 and January 4, 2019.

“Fraud in any part of the workers’ compensation system is detrimental to trust and hurts the entire system, including medical providers, carriers, businesses, and injured workers,” said NYSIF Executive Director Gaurav Vasisht.

Source: New York Attorney General