Ameet Vohra, MD, owner of Miramar, Fla.-based Vohra Wound Physicians Management, and his companies have agreed to pay $45 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting claims for medically unnecessary surgical procedures to Medicare.
What happened?
- According to a Nov. 21 news release by the Department of Justice, Dr. Vohra allegedly submitted claims through his company for more lucrative surgical procedures when only routine nonsurgical wound management had been performed on his patients.
- He also allegedly submitted claims for evaluation and management services that were not billable under Medicare coverage and coding rules.
- Vohra Wound Physicians Management is one of the nation’s largest providers of bedside specialty wound care, according to the release. In April 2025, a lawsuit was filed against the company by the government, alleging it was participating in a nationwide scheme to bill Medicare for procedures that were medically unnecessary or had not been performed at all.
- In the lawsuit, the government alleges that company management pressured, trained and provided financial incentives for physicians to perform surgical excisional debridement procedures during as many patient visits as possible, regardless of their necessity.
- The company is accused of programming EHR and billing software to ensure that Medicare was always billed for the higher-reimbursed debridement procedure, creating false medical record documentation to support the scheme.
- The government alleges that this “widespread scheme” was orchestrated by Dr. Vohra and implemented by his senior management team.
What happens next?
- Under the settlement, Dr. Vohra will enter a five-year corporate integrity agreement with HSS’ Office of Inspector General.
- The company will develop and maintain a compliance program, implement a risk-assessment process and hire an independent review organization to evaluate its claims and health information technology systems.
