June 26, 2018

Michigan Oncologist Charged in $35 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

Editor’s note: Here’s an interesting blog post from our archives that we thought was worth sharing again. The False Claims Act has enabled whistleblowers to expose fraudulent healthcare fiscal violations, while getting financial rewards for their efforts. We feel this is justice being served indeed.

Dr. Farid Fata, owner and operator of Michigan Hematology Oncology Centers has been charged in a criminal complaint for submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary services that include chemotherapy treatments, Positron Emission Tomograph scans and other cancer and hematology treatments for patients who did not need them.

The criminal complaint alleges that the defendant endangered patient safety through misdiagnosis, over or misprescription of chemotherapy and other treatments, as well as, delaying hospital care for patients with serious injuries. The complaint further alleges  Dr Fata directed the administration of unnecessary chemotherapy to patients in remission; deliberate misdiagnoses of patients as having cancer to justify unnecessary cancer treatment and expensive testing; administration of chemotherapy to end-of-of life patients who did not benefit from such therapy; fabrication of diagnoses such as anemia and fatigue to justify unnecessary hematology treatments, and distribution of controlled substances to patients without medical necessity or administering drugs at dangerous levels. Dr. Fata also falsified and directed others to falsify documents to justify the cancer treatments for billing purposes.

Through is his Michigan Hematology Oncology Centers located in Clarkston, Bloomfield Hills, Lapeer, Sterling Heights, Troy and Oak Park Michigan, Fata billed Medicare approximately $35 million dollars over a two year period, and approximately $25 million was directly attributatble to Dr. Fata.

Dr. Fata is now awaiting trial on these allegations and remains innocent until proven guilty.

Interested in learning more about Qui Tam law and your legal rights as a whistleblower? We are here to help and to inform. You can read an overview on Qui Tam law and our practice area with Qui Tam attorneys here.