 "Indian-origin doctor, who treated 9/11 patients in US, jailed for 14 years. Who is Neil Anand?")
An Indian-origin doctor who treated 9/11 victims has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. Neil K Anand was convicted of committing fraud on the US healthcare system earlier this year.
Anand this week was sentenced to 168 months in prison and ordered to pay a $2 million (Rs 17.74 crore) fine as restitution and another $2 million forfeiture.
But what do we know about Anand? Why was he convicted?
Let’s take a closer look
What we know about Anand
Anand, 48, was born in Media, Pennsylvania.
Based in Pennsylvania’s Bensalem, he graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and then got his MD from Albany Medical College at age 24.
In 2001, Anand treated 9/11 victims in New York. He is said to have earned the NYU Hero’s Award for his actions. He is said to have assisted in Thomas Jefferson University Hospital’s first heart transplant.
He also later enlisted in the US Navy as a doctor. He is said to have performed over 700 heart and lung operations while serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the US Naval Medical Corps.
Anand in 2019 was arrested on charges of fraud. During Anand’s lengthy trial, authorities accused him of defrauding Medicare, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Independence Blue Cross (IBC), and Anthem.
Anand was
charged with committing healthcare fraud, wire fraud, unlawful distribution of controlled substances, and money laundering.
Authorities said Anand would dispense “Goody Bags” of unneeded prescriptions to patients from pharmacies he owned, including his clinic in Bensalem. The above-mentioned agencies and healthcare providers then reimbursed Anand to the tune of $2.4 million (Rs 21.29 crore) between 2015 and 2019.
To encourage patients to take the “Goody Bags”, he would also provide them oxycodone outside his medical practice – again without a medical purpose. Anand used unlicensed medical interns to write prescriptions for the “Goody Bags” on blank prescriptions he had pre-signed.
Anand, during the course of the scheme, distributed 20,850 oxycodone tablets to just nine different patients. Anand, upon finding out that he was under the scanner from authorities, attempted to hide the scheme by transferring approximately $1.2 million (Rs 10.64 crore) into an account on which his father was named. He did so to shield the money for his minor daughter.
‘Manipulated data’
Anand and his family have denied the accusations. They claim he is being wrongly prosecuted.
“The government is using artificial intelligence and manipulated data to prosecute me for treating chronic pain patients, turning tools meant to help into weapons against doctors,” Anand claimed on a blog during the trial.
Anand’s sister, a doctor who occasionally worked at his clinic, accused some patients of committing perjury during the trial. Anand himself said he wanted to treat patients in “real, relentless, ravaging pain” and did so out of mercy rather than what the prosecution claimed was malpractice.
Assistant US Attorney Paul J Koob said Anand “perpetuated the opioid epidemic to line his own pockets.” “He did not view [patients] as people,” Koob said. “They were vehicles of profit.”
Anand in April was convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, three counts of healthcare fraud, one count of money laundering, four counts of unlawful monetary transactions, as well as conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
“The law has spoken for now, but the deeper questions remain: What is healing? What is justice? Where’s the line between mercy and misconduct?” Anand said at the hearing, as per The Times of India.
However, the judge was unmoved.
US District Judge Chad F Kenney remarked Anand was focused on greed and illicit profits instead of his patients. “For you, their pain was your gain. You were not focused during this period on treating your patients,” Kenney said.
He said that although Anand was once a doctor to be looked up to, he lost his way and instead became fixated on “swindling” insurers and “disregarding the actual needs of your patients.”
“You were gaming a legitimate system,” Kenney added.
The case was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General.
As per a press release from the Office of Public Affairs, attorneys Koob, Patrick J Campbell, and Arun Bodapati of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section tried the case.
The Fraud Section heads up the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat healthcare fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Programme.
Over 5,800 defendants who have billed federal healthcare providers and private insurance firms more than $30 billion (Rs 2.66 lakh crore) have been charged since March 2007 under this programme.
With inputs from agencies
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