THE NATIONAL HEALTH CARE ANTI-FRAUD ASSOCIATION today presented its Investigation of the Year Award to a team of federal agencies together with a private health insurer for their collaborative work on the case of United States of America v. Farid Fata, MD.
This investigation involved a leading hematologist-oncologist in Michigan who misdiagnosed and mistreated hundreds of his patients for conditions they did not have, including cancer, in order to maximize billing to Medicare and private insurance.
Over the course of four days, the initial tip was received, allegations were verified, and search warrants and criminal complaints were prepared, resulting in Fata’s arrest.
On July 10, Fata was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $17.6 million for violating the trust of 553 patients and for submitting approximately $34 million in fraudulent claims. At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Paul Borman said, “This is a huge, horrific series of criminal acts that were committed by the defendant,” and then said that Fata “practiced greed and shut down whatever compassion he had.”
The awardees are: the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice Criminal Division; the Office of Investigations under the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services; the Criminal Investigation department of the Internal Revenue Service; U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan; the FBI Detroit Field Office; and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Corporate and Financial Investigations.
