Community Corner

Bethesda Doctor to Pay $17M for False Health Care Claims

Dr. Ishtiaq A. Malik must pay more than $17 million for submitting false or fraudulent claims to state and federal health programs, according to Maryland's attorney general's office.

Bethesda resident Dr. Ishtiaq A. Malik has been ordered to pay more than $17 million for submitting false or fraudulent claims to state and federal health programs, according to a news statement from Maryland's attorney general's office.

As part of the summary judgment issued by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Wilkins, Malik and two companies that he owns—Ishtiaq A. Malik M.D., P.C. and Advanced Nuclear Diagnostics, P.C., operating in Washington, DC—must pay Maryland $305,151.24, which is triple the amount of improperly billed services reimbursed by the Maryland Medicaid Program. Maryland’s False Claims Act provides for triple damages in certain Medicaid frauds, the statement reported.

Last February, Maryland and DC joined the federal government's 2012 lawsuit against Malik and his companies. "The lawsuit resulted from illegal claims for payment submitted by the defendants to Medicaid, Medicare and other government health care programs in connection with cardiac nuclear stress tests," the statement reported.

Malik and his companies "double-billed for some services, submitted claims for additional services that were not related to the treatment that was provided and billed for services that were never provided," the statement continued.

Malik also billed separately for procedures included as part of another service—a practice known as unbundling, according to the attorney general's office.

Malik also has been ordered to pay penalties of $5,500 for each false claim submitted to a government health care program, totaling an additional $1,672,000. Maryland’s share of that amount has yet to be determined, the attorney general's office's statement reported.


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