NEWARK, N.J. – A Hudson County, N.J., pediatrician was arrested at his home this morning for fraudulently billing Medicaid $900,000 for wound-repair treatments on children that were never rendered, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Badawy M. Badawy, M.D., 50, of Bayonne, N.J., a licensed pediatrician who owns and operates Sinai Medical Center of Jersey City LLC, a medical practice focusing primarily on pediatrics and family medicine, billed Medicaid thousands of times for nearly $900,000 worth of wound repairs on children and adolescents. He was charged by Complaint with healthcare fraud and is scheduled to make his initial court appearance later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor in Newark federal court.
According to the Complaint:
From January 2004 through December 2008, Badawy billed Medicaid, through its managed care companies, for certain wound repairs more frequently than any other service provider in the State of New Jersey. His claims for these supposed treatments represented a strong majority of all such claims submitted to Medicaid by all New Jersey medical providers during this time period, including 99.4 percent of all claims for the suturing or stapling of facial wounds larger than 30 centimeters.
Virtually all of these claims, which were submitted for supposed wound repairs on children, were fraudulent. Badawy’s patient charts for a large sample of these children who supposedly received treatment revealed no entry, notation, or other evidence, such as suturing or other closing methods, to support his claims that these procedures were actually performed.
The Complaint also identifies by initials 10 children whom Badawy claimed to have treated for wound repairs on numerous occasions.
∙ From April 2004 through June 2007, Badawy purportedly treated three children on 28 separate occasions for a total of 49 procedures involving some type of wound repair. According to the children’s mother, none of these children has ever had a cut that required stitches or other methods of wound closure.
∙ From March 2006 through February 2007, Badawy submitted eight claims for facial wound repairs, including two 30-centimeter facial wound repairs, on a single teenager during four different visits. According to the teenager, he had never seen Badawy for wounds to his face or other body parts.
∙ From July 2005 through July 2007, Dr. Badawy supposedly performed 15 wound repairs, including six 30-centimeter facial wound repairs, on a boy on eight separate occasions. According to the boy, he was never treated for a cut to his face.
The charge of health care fraud carries a maximum potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the crime.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Thomas O’Donnell, and the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez, with the investigation leading to today’s arrest.
The government is represented by Scott B. McBride of the U.S. Attorney’s Health Care and Government Fraud Unit.
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Defense counsel: Michael J. Keating Esq., Cranford, N.J.