A Washington Heights doctor was busted in a $700,000 Medicaid scam for allegedly prescribing HIV drugs to a dozen patients who did not have the virus - and billing the public health system for their care, prosecutors said.
Suresh Hemrajani, 57, pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and health care fraud charges and was held on $250,000 bail after appearing before a Manhattan judge Friday.
Officials said the investigation into the yearlong scam, which began in 2008, is continuing. A law enforcement source said that the internist's unnamed patients may have participated in the fraud.
"By taking advantage of a program intended to assist New Yorkers who cannot afford to pay for medical care, the defendant victimized not only the neediest members of our community but also all New York taxpayers," District Attorney Vance said.
The case was a joint investigation with the New York City Human Resources Administration.
Investigators said the doctor, who operated a solo practice at 4580 Broadway, arranged for the patients to bill the cost of the medications to Medicaid.
Prosecutors said that Hemrajani wrote prescriptions for Human Immunodeficiency Virus medications without ever determining if his patients had the virus and later created false records for treating these patients, though they visited his office only once.
The scam was uncovered when some of the patients later tried to get additional prescriptions for HIV drugs from a hospital, where they were tested and found to be HIV-negative, prosecutors said.
Hemrajani faces up to 15 years behind bars.
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