And we wonder why our healthcare sucks poo...
[quoteurl=http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-doc20.html]
Doctor admits fraud
September 20, 2002
BY JANET RAUSA FULLER STAFF REPORTER
Dr. Krishnaswami Sriram billed for tests he never performed and patients he hadn't seen. Once, he billed Medicare for seeing more than 180 patients in a single day--32 of them were dead.
And then there was the patient he said he saw at two different hospitals--on the same day.
It was all a lie, the Lake Forest cardiologist admitted Thursday, sobbing in federal court as he admitted to a massive fraud scheme, pleading guilty to one count each of mail, health care and tax fraud a week before he was to go on trial.
Sriram stood before U.S. District Judge John Darrah and apologized to his wife and three children and "to all those 100 people, and everyone else I've affected by my foolishness," even the federal agents who spent time investigating him.
Sriram, 44, will be sentenced in February. He faces a maximum prison term of 18 years and could be fined $750,000, as well as having to forfeit as much as $1 million.
Prosecutors said the fraud scheme was carried out between 1996 and 2001. They said Sriram bilked Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurers of more than $3 million, billing for tests and services he never performed and creating fake records, or doctoring real ones, to show that he did.
He also submitted claims on behalf of doctors working for the in-home health-care business he ran--doctors who weren't working for his company at the time--and lied on income tax returns for 1997, 1998 and 1999.
At Sriram's sentencing, prosecutors plan to call witnesses to show Sriram also ordered needless angiograms--an invasive cardiovascular test--to increase his billings, something Sriram denies.
With Sriram facing the possibility of a long prison term, prosecutor Matthew Crowl sought unsuccessfully to get the judge to raise Sriram's bail, which is secured by his $640,000 Lake Forest house, two condos and a $3.1 million certificate of deposit. Crowl argued that Sriram, a native of India, initially lied to authorities about assets he had in India and is a flight risk.
But Sriram's defense attorney, Steve Miller, said Sriram has shown up for every hearing and has been allowed to travel outside of Illinois. Sriram is a U.S. citizen who continues to take medical classes, but, under terms of his release on bail, he's not allowed to practice, Miller said.[/quoteurl]
[quoteurl=http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-doc20.html]
Doctor admits fraud
September 20, 2002
BY JANET RAUSA FULLER STAFF REPORTER
Dr. Krishnaswami Sriram billed for tests he never performed and patients he hadn't seen. Once, he billed Medicare for seeing more than 180 patients in a single day--32 of them were dead.
And then there was the patient he said he saw at two different hospitals--on the same day.
It was all a lie, the Lake Forest cardiologist admitted Thursday, sobbing in federal court as he admitted to a massive fraud scheme, pleading guilty to one count each of mail, health care and tax fraud a week before he was to go on trial.
Sriram stood before U.S. District Judge John Darrah and apologized to his wife and three children and "to all those 100 people, and everyone else I've affected by my foolishness," even the federal agents who spent time investigating him.
Sriram, 44, will be sentenced in February. He faces a maximum prison term of 18 years and could be fined $750,000, as well as having to forfeit as much as $1 million.
Prosecutors said the fraud scheme was carried out between 1996 and 2001. They said Sriram bilked Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurers of more than $3 million, billing for tests and services he never performed and creating fake records, or doctoring real ones, to show that he did.
He also submitted claims on behalf of doctors working for the in-home health-care business he ran--doctors who weren't working for his company at the time--and lied on income tax returns for 1997, 1998 and 1999.
At Sriram's sentencing, prosecutors plan to call witnesses to show Sriram also ordered needless angiograms--an invasive cardiovascular test--to increase his billings, something Sriram denies.
With Sriram facing the possibility of a long prison term, prosecutor Matthew Crowl sought unsuccessfully to get the judge to raise Sriram's bail, which is secured by his $640,000 Lake Forest house, two condos and a $3.1 million certificate of deposit. Crowl argued that Sriram, a native of India, initially lied to authorities about assets he had in India and is a flight risk.
But Sriram's defense attorney, Steve Miller, said Sriram has shown up for every hearing and has been allowed to travel outside of Illinois. Sriram is a U.S. citizen who continues to take medical classes, but, under terms of his release on bail, he's not allowed to practice, Miller said.[/quoteurl]