The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland (USAO-MD) announced that it obtained a judgment of $1,407,493.23 against Dr. Richard Akoto, M.D., a family medical doctor, and his practice, Richard O. Akoto, M.D. PC, located in Takoma Park, Maryland. The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland found that Akoto submitted, or caused the submission of, false claims to the Medicare program in connection with his use of auricular stimulation (P-Stim) devices.
Per the USAO-MD: “In his practice, Dr. Akoto used a P-stim device to treat patients for pain. A P-Stim device provides electrical acupuncture to treat pain symptoms and is applied externally to the patient, generally behind the patient’s ear using an adhesive to hold the device in place. Acupuncture, electrical or otherwise, is not reimbursable by Medicare. The United States filed a complaint against Dr. Akoto alleging he falsely billed Medicare using a code for an implantable neurostimulator device, which is surgically implanted into a patient and typically performed by a surgeon in an operating room. Dr. Akoto fraudulently billed Medicare for this complex neurosurgical procedure numerous times from approximately January 17, 2019 to May 1, 2019.
“Dr. Akoto knowingly submitted false claims by billing non-invasive P-Stim devices as surgical implants—an unconscionable and blatant misrepresentation to exploit the Medicare system,” Hayes said. “This type of fraud not only wastes taxpayer dollars, it also undermines trust in our healthcare system. The U.S. Attorney’s office is committed to continuing to work with our partners to identify and eliminate this kind of waste and abuse of our federal health care programs.”…