NEWARK, N.J. – A New Jersey doctor practicing in West Orange was sentenced today to five months in prison and five months of home confinement for his role in a payment-for-patients scheme in which he took envelopes of cash in exchange for making patient referrals, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Dov Rand, 48, of Franklin Lakes, N.J., previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi to one count of violating the federal healthcare program anti-kickback statute. Judge Cecchi imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Dec. 13, 2011, Rand was arrested – along with 12 other New Jersey doctors and one nurse practitioner – and charged with accepting cash kickback payments from Orange Community MRI (“Orange MRI”), an Orange, N.J., diagnostic facility, in exchange for his referral of Medicare and Medicaid patients. During the course of the investigation, Rand and others were recorded taking envelopes of cash in exchange for their patient referrals. Orange MRI’s executive director, Chirag Patel, 37, of Warren, N.J., was arrested on Dec. 8, 2011, in connection with the scheme.
Starting in 2010, Orange MRI made monthly cash kickback payments to Rand in exchange for his referral of patients to Orange MRI for diagnostic tests. At the end of each month, individuals at Orange MRI printed patient reports that detailed how many tests Rand referred and used them to calculate the kickback payment owed to Rand. Pursuant to Rand’s agreement with Orange MRI, he was paid kickbacks for each MRI test on a Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary referred to the facility.
Rand admitted receiving cash payments on more than one occasion in October and November 2011 in exchange for his referral of patients.
In addition to the prison term and home confinement, Judge Cecchi sentenced Rand to two years of supervised release and fined him $30,000.
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