This month, fraud in the medical industry has been making headlines fairly frequently. Two recent cases involved dental offices. In one case, the dentist himself was involved, practicing on a revoked license. The other involved a mother-daughter team caught stealing from their employer.
We also covered two Medicaid fraud schemes, one resulting in billions of dollars in billing for medical supplies that were never received.
Dentist Ordered to Pay $8.5M for Medicaid Fraud
In March 2014, the Maryland Board of Dental Examiners received complaints against Seyed Hamid Tofigh, DDS, claiming the dentist posed a risk of harm, and suspended his license. After an investigation, the Board determined that Dr. Tofigh engaged in unprofessional and dishonorable conduct, failed to properly keep dental records, billed for services he didn’t provide, and provided substandard treatment. As a result, his license was revoked in 2015.
After his license was revoked, Dr. Tofigh continued to practice dentistry under the guise of former colleagues and family members who were licensed, submitting claims to Medicaid under their names. This went on from 2015 to 2022, when he was caught for fraud.
Dr. Tofigh was charged with Medicaid fraud, receiving a five-year sentence for defrauding a state health plan (required to serve 78 in jail), and a suspended one-year sentence for practicing without a license. Each charge also comes with five years probation, while the fraud charge includes 18 months of house arrest.
He is also responsible for paying $8.5 million in restitution and is prohibited from providing federally or state-funded services.
Dental Office Employees Face Felony Charges
On February 13, 2024, reports were released that two former employees of an Indiana dental office stole money from their employer. After the doctor was made aware of accounting discrepancies, the office closed in July 2023.
Meagan Baker and Kayla Baker were found to have stolen at least $50,000 from the practice. How did they accomplish this? They convinced patients to pay cash for services – telling them they would get a discount for doing so – and pocketed the money. Payment records were also allegedly deleted from the office’s computer system.
The two fraudsters are facing felony charges for corrupt business influence, fraud, obstruction of justice, and theft. Kayla is also facing a forgery charge.
