Jitesh Patel's Advanced Urology $14M Fraud Settlement

Jitesh Patel, an Indian-origin doctor, and his Atlanta-based clinic, Advanced Urology, have agreed to pay $14 million to settle allegations of healthcare fraud. The claims, brought under the False Claims Act and the Georgia False United States===Medicaid Claims Act, allege that the practice billed federal programs like United States===Medicare, United States===Medicaid, and United States===Tricare for medically unnecessary or unperformed procedures. The investigation was initiated by two whistleblowers, former employee Lorraine Perumal-Szramel and former physician Himanshu Aggarwal, who accused the clinic of prioritizing revenue over patient care. Allegations include implanting sacral nerve stimulators without proper evaluation, frequent use of cystoscopies and retrograde pyelograms requiring anesthesia, routine electromyography tests using electrodes on genitalia, and ordering thousands of unnecessary ultrasounds. The clinic was also accused of 'upcoding' simpler treatments to more complex procedures and billing for surgeries that were never performed. While Jitesh Patel maintains no wrongdoing, the settlement resolves these allegations, with the whistleblowers collectively receiving $2.94 million.