4 physicians charged with fraudulent cancer testing, care

Four healthcare providers have been charged for fraudulent acts associated with cancer testing and care as part of a Justice Department investigation. The wider investigation identified what the government has said amounts to more than $14.6 billion in intended losses to Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs.

The Justice Department provided details on the cases against all 324 defendants on its website.

Here are four healthcare providers included in the investigation:

1. Abu Muhammad Haque, MD, of West Islip, N.Y., faces charges in connection with a $15 million fraudulent laboratory testing scheme in which the Justice Department said he received financial kickbacks and bribes to order genetic cancer testing.
   
   
2. Jawad Bhatti, MD, of Richmond, Va., was charged with submitting more than $5 million in false Medicare and Medicaid claims associated with the fraudulent administration of ozone gas. 
   
   Authorities said Dr. Bhatti falsely advertised ozone for the treatment of cancer, as well as AIDS, arthritis, lower back pain and weight management. He is charged with administering ozone to patients via injection through three medical devices that have not received FDA approval and with falsely billing the ozone treatments as nerve blocks.
   
   
3. Mitchell Stotland, MD, was charged with submitting false Medicare claims associated with genetic cancer testing, ultraviolet light therapy devices and foot bath medications. 
   
   
4. Shayasta Mufti, MD, was charged with submitting false Medicare claims for medically unnecessary genetic testing, for which Medicare paid about $565,000, the release said. 

Read the full case summaries here.