New Jersey Doctor Fraud

NEW JERSEY DOCTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO HEALTH CARE FRAUD
Only in New Jersey can you have a doctor bill nearly a million dollars in charges to Medicare and Medicaid in less than eighteen months. It is obviously very difficult to bill those kinds of numbers working alone; however, Dr. Yousuf Masood and his wife came up with a plan to produce these kinds of numbers. Dr. Masood hired three medical school graduates who had failed to pass the required test to become licensed to practice medicine in New Jersey. In court, the Masoods admitted they knew that the three they had hired were not licensed to practice medicine in New Jersey. To add insult to injury, it was learned that two of the three individuals hired by Dr. Masood were found through Craig’s List.

On April 21, 2011, both husband and wife pled guilty in Federal Court to one count each of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. As part of the guilty plea, Dr. Masood indicated that he had billed Medicare and Medicaid for more than 20,000 patient visits. The doctor claimed that he had performed the patient exams, when in fact the exams were completed by the three unlicensed physicians. During 2009, Dr. Masood was the top Medicaid prescribing doctor in the state of New Jersey. Interestingly, his prescriptions exceeded nine million dollars in one year. The second highest drug-prescribing doctor in the state of New Jersey did not reach six million dollars in prescriptions during that same year.

If you are aware of a doctor or doctor’s office allowing unlicensed physicians to practice or improperly prescribing prescription drugs, you should speak with a qualified New Jersey attorney.