Ram Naresh Rajulapati

On November 29, 2012, Ram Naresh Rajulapati was indicted on charges of health care fraud conspiracy, health care fraud, and criminal forfeiture. Investigators believe that Rajulapati and co-conspirators received approximately $2.3 million from Medicare in reimbursement for physical therapy and nursing services that were not rendered and/or were not medically necessary.

According to the indictment, Rajulapati was a licensed physical therapist who worked at Acure Home Care, Inc., a Michigan-based home health agency that purportedly provided in-home physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, and/or skilled nursing services to patients. Acure was owned and operated by Mehran Javidan, and physical therapist Vishnu Pradeep Meda also worked at Acure. Both Javidan and Meda were convicted at trial on April 2, 2013, for their participation in the Medicare fraud scheme, and they are awaiting sentencing.

According to evidence presented at their trial, Javidan paid doctors to refer non-homebound patients for physical therapy treatment that was medically unnecessary. The evidence showed that she also paid patient recruiters to obtain Medicare information and pre-signed physical therapy documents from Medicare beneficiaries. The recruiters obtained the Medicare information and pre-signed forms by paying patients in cash and by promising that the referring doctors would prescribe narcotics for them. Javidan allegedly paid co-conspirators more than $140,000 in kickbacks and bribes for the patients and patient information.

Rajulapati, Meda, and other physical therapists and physical therapy assistants employed by Acure allegedly created false physical therapy files to make it appear as if physical therapy services were actually rendered, when in fact, the services had not been rendered. They then submitted false claims to Medicare for the cost of physical therapy and other services purportedly provided to beneficiaries.