by filing bills for care that was never given to patients.
The New Jersey state attorney general pursued cases against Dr. Khashayar Salartash, 44, the owner of The Center for Lymphatic Disorders in southern New Jersey, and his office manager, Farah Iranipour Houtan, 54.
Houtan pleaded guilty last week to third degree health care claims fraud. She will be sentenced in November. She faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $15,000.
Dr. Salartash, who was born in Iran and came to the United States as a five-year-old, entered into a consent agreement with the state under which he agreed to pay $3 million in restitution to Medicare and Medicaid plus a fine of $50,000.
Salartash is the nephew of Houtan.
The fraudulent billings were filed between 2004 and 2007.
The original charges filed in 2009 cited false billings to Medicare and Medicaid of $5.2 million plus separate false billings to private insurers of $3.3 million.
Medicare is the health care program for senior citizens. Medicaid covers health care for the poor. Fraud charges in both programs are common, but the sums involved in this case were much higher than usual.
The investigation was opened when analysts contracted by Medicare to review billings identified bills submitted by The Center for Lymphatic Disorders as suspicious. That is a common way that fraud is first detected. In a case a decade ago, an Iranian doctor in Maryland was first subject to investigation when it was discovered he had billed for providing medical care exceeding 24 hours for many days.
