Endoscopy Center CEO Tonya Rushing to pay $8 million for role in fraud

Executive instructed office staff to rely on false anesthesia records when preparing claims for reimbursement sent to Medicare, Medicaid and the insurance companies.

The former CEO of the now-defunct Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada was ordered to relinquish over $8 million for her part in a billing fraud scheme, according to U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden of the District of Nevada. The sentence was handed up on May 4.

Former CEO Tonya Rushing, 47, and Dipak Desai, the former owner of the center, overcharged Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance companies by overstating the amount of time nurse anesthetists spent with patients, according to the plea agreement.

Desai and Rushing created a separate company, Healthcare Business Solutions, owned by Rushing, to handle the billing for the anesthesia services, the court record states. This company received about 9 percent of all money collected for anesthesia services rendered at the endoscopy center, it stated.

[Also: Desai guilty in $2.2 million scheme]

Rushing received nearly $1.3 million as her share of the inflated anesthesia billing scheme, according to court records. Desai and Rushing imposed intense pressure on the endoscopy center employees to schedule and treat as many patients as possible in a day, and instructed the nurse anesthetists to overstate the amount of time they spent on the anesthesia procedures, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Desai and Rushing also instructed the office staff to rely on the false anesthesia records when preparing claims for reimbursement sent to Medicare, Medicaid and the insurance companies, court records state.

[Also: Running list of notable 2015 healthcare frauds]

Desai pleaded guilty on April 2 to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, one count of health care fraud, and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9.

Rushing pleaded guilty to the charges last July, She was sentenced to a year and one day in prison, ordered to serve two years of supervised release, perform 150 hours of community service, and pay a $10,000 fine and $50,000 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada.

Twitter: @SusanMorseHFN