(CN) - An assistant hospital administrator in Houston has been arrested and charged for his role in filing $116 million in false Medicare claims for mental health treatments that were never performed or were unnecessary, the Justice Department said.
Mohammed Khan, 62, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks and five counts of paying or offering to pay health care kickbacks.
According to an indictment unsealed Wednesday, Khan allegedly operated the scheme to defraud Medicare from 2008 until his arrest.
According to prosecutors, Khan caused the submitted false and fraudulent claims for partial hospitalization program (PHP) services to Medicare through the unnamed hospital. A PHP is a form of intensive outpatient treatment for severe mental illness.
Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said Khan "paid kickbacks to patient recruiters, owners of group homes and assisted living facilities, and beneficiaries so that he could fill his hospital with patients for whom he could bill the government for medically unnecessary services or services that were never provided."
The indictment also alleges Khan paid kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries who attended the hospital's PHPs.
Prosecutors said these kickbacks included cigarettes, food and coupons redeemable for items available at the hospital's "country stores."
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