Virginia Hospital Indicted For Unnecessary Hysterectomies, Defrauding Medicare
A federal grand jury has indicted Chesapeake Regional Medical Center for accusations of health care fraud and providing medical procedures that were not medically necessary. Photo credit: Google Street View.
The hospital gave Perwaiz “privileges” to treat patients from 1984 until his arrest in 2019, according to the indictment. Another hospital he worked at during this period revoked his privileges after he was found guilty for performing unnecessary surgeries and was convicted of two felonies back in 1996. However, CMRC never revoked his privileges even though they knew about the felonies.
Lying About Pregnancies to Book Induced Surgeries
The indictment further states that Perwaiz performed deliveries at CRMC, scheduling them as elective inductions on Saturdays while he was in the building to do other surgeries. In obstetric flowsheets Perwaiz submitted to CRMC, there were two different delivery dates – one real, while the second one was fabricated to indicate that the mother was 39 weeks pregnant or beyond, even if that was not the case.
During the review of these flowsheets for patients with Medicaid in 2019, it was found that about 40 percent of women were inducted before they entered the 39th week of pregnancy, with no medical reason and putting infants and mother at risk for complications.
Outpatient Surgeries that Should Have Been In-Patient for Higher Reimbursements
The indictment also states that CRMC knew that Perwaiz would schedule impatient-only surgeries as outpatient procedures to receive higher reimbursements. This hospital also allegedly allowed him to schedule Saturday surgeries on Friday afternoon and to perform sterilizations without a valid consent form.
Perwaiz was convicted in 2020 of 52 counts related to medically unnecessary procedures, including hysterectomies, and fraudulent medical billing practices, according to a Justice Department press release at the time.
A federal court sentenced Perwaiz to 59 years in prison. However, the case didn’t end there and the role CRMC had in this came to light.
Official Statement
U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber, in the latest press release thate and CMRC was complicit in Perwaiz’s crimes.
“As alleged in the indictment, Dr. Perwaiz did not act alone in this conspiracy to needlessly sterilize and otherwise harm women,” Aber said. “The Grand Jury found today that CRMC was complicit in this horrifying scheme to place profits over patient care.”
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