The married physicians will also forfeit $44 million in assets as part of the agreement.
The Sharmas were accused of using their allergy and pain clinics to see patients, many of whom were drug addicts seeking prescriptions that were not medically necessary. The physicians then provided these prescriptions to the patients and billed Medicare and other payors. The physicians were also accused of billing for facet joint injections and clinic visits that never took place. In some cases, the physicians would require patients sign blank forms so they could be used to bill for unprovided services and would withhold prescriptions if the patients would not sign the forms, according to the report.
Read the Houston Chronicle’s report on Drs. Arun and Kiran Sharma.
