Reno Reporter

The suburban Atlanta physician who agreed to a more than $1.8 million settlement after allegedly performing unnecessary surgeries put profits ahead of her patients, a Georgia-based U.S. attorney said in a news release.

Dr. Aarti Pandya of the Pandya Practice Group in Conyers, Georgia, agreed to the settlement following a federal lawsuit that claimed she performed unnecessary surgeries, including cataract extractions on patients who didn't have cataracts. Pandya performed the surgeries for Medicare insurance payments, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

"Physicians who perform procedures and tests without a legitimate medical need place profits ahead of patients and subject those patients to unnecessary risk," U.S. Attorney for Georgia's Northern District Ryan K. Buchanan said in the release. "This settlement represents our office's commitment to ensuring accountability for physicians who subject patients to unwarranted medical care and waste taxpayer funds." 

Pandya allegedly violated the False Claims Act when she billed Medicare for medically unnecessary cataract surgeries and diagnostic tests, the latter "incomplete or of worthless value," as well as "office visits that did not provide the level of service claimed," the news release said. A former Pandya Practice Group employee subsequently turned whistleblower and alerted the government to the group's billing practices, according to the news release. 

"Care coordination for beneficiaries should account, first and foremost, for the medical appropriateness of services that patients need to maintain their well-being," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General Special Agent in Charge Tamala E. Miles said in the news release. "Subjecting individuals to extraneous procedures just to bilk the health care programs on which they rely is the antithesis of proper medical care. HHS-OIG and our law enforcement partners are dedicated to investigating providers who allegedly threaten the safety of patients and the integrity of the federal health care system."

Pandya also allegedly billed the U.S. Department of Defense's health care system.

"We are committed to fully investigating providers who falsely bill the Department of Defense health care system to enrich themselves using funds intended for military members and their families,” DOD Criminal Investigative Service Southeast Field Office Special Agent in Charge Darrin K. Jones said in the news release. "We thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our investigative partners for their dedication to protecting America's warfighters."