The lawsuit alleges Robert M. Ritchea, MD, improperly billed Medicare for pain injections administered by an unlicensed medical assistant, who performed unnecessary pain injection procedures that were billed to Medicare as nerve blocks. Dr. Ritchea admitted that the procedures were not medically necessary and that they were overprescribed and overutilized.
Dr. Ritchea is being charged for also allegedly billing Medicare for more expensive procedures than were actually performed and for other services that were not reimbursable.
Read the U.S. Attorney General’s news release about the Georgia Medicare fraud (pdf).
Read other coverage about healthcare fraud in Georgia:
– U.S. Files Suit Against Georgia Physician and Medical Center for Healthcare Fraud, Endangering Lives
– Georgia’s Augusta Medical Systems Charged with Submitting False Claims to Medicare
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