N.J. Radiologist Sentenced in Pay-for-Referrals Imaging Fraud

A federal court has sentenced an Orange, N.J., radiologist to 46 months in prison for bribing doctors to refer their patients to his diagnostic testing center.

Between 2008 and 2011, Ashokkumar Babaria’s Orange Community MRI made approximately $2 million in Medicare and Medicaid billings for MRIs, CAT scans, echocardiograms, ultrasounds and dual-emission X-ray absorptiometries (DEXA) under the cash-for-patients scheme, court documents show.

Judge Claire Cecchi of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ordered Babaria to forfeit that money and fined him $25,000, in addition to the prison term.

Babaria previously pleaded guilty to one count of violating the federal healthcare anti-kickback statute by offering and paying doctors and healthcare professionals to refer patients to Orange Community MRI. He also pleaded guilty to specific acts, including a 2009 approval of $100 kickbacks to one doctor for MRI referrals, $75 kickbacks to another doctor for MRI referrals and $25 for ultrasound or DEXA scan referrals.

As of last week, 17 others had been convicted in the case, including two doctors. Fourteen healthcare providers and Orange MRI’s former executive director, Chirag Patel, surrendered a total of $460,140, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey. — Lena Freund

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