Pike County Oncologist, Office Manager, and Medical Biller Indicted for Health Care Fraud

JACKSON, MS—Meera Sachdeva, M.D., 50, of Summit; Brittany McCoskey, 24, of Monticello; and Monica Weeks, 43, of Madison, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on health care fraud charges, U.S. Attorney John Dowdy announced today. Sachdeva, along with McCoskey, her office manager, and Weeks, a medical insurance biller, are charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, theft of funds from a health care benefit program, making false statements in relation to a health care matter and obstruction of justice. Sachdeva is also charged with four counts of money laundering.

According to the 15-count indictment, Sachdeva owned and operated Rose Cancer Center in Summit Mississippi. The indictment alleges that Sachdeva and her co-defendants defrauded Medicare and Medicaid by billing for chemotherapy treatments given to patients when no physician was present at Rose Cancer Center, billing for services that were never rendered, and for causing serious bodily injury to a patient. According to the indictment, Sachdeva administered substantially smaller amounts of chemotherapy drugs to her patients than what she claimed to be giving them. During the time period covered by the indictment, Rose Cancer Center received $15.1 million from Medicare and Medicaid.

If convicted on all 15 counts, Sachdeva faces up to 165 years in prison and over $3,250,000 in fines. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of several parcels of real property and of approximately $6,000,000 in cash, most of which was seized by the government on August 10, 2011. Sachdeva is currently being held without bond, and has been in the custody of the United States Marshal since her arrest and initial court appearance on August 11, 2011. Her arraignment is scheduled for September 21, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. in front of United States Magistrate Judge Linda R. Anderson.

McCoskey, who was a receptionist and later the office manager at Rose Cancer Center, is charged in 11 counts of the indictment. If convicted, she faces up to 125 years in prison and up to $2,250,000 in fines.

Weeks, who submitted the claims for Rose Cancer Center to Medicare, Medicaid, and other private insurance companies, is also charged in 11 counts of the indictment. If convicted, she faces up to 125 years in prison and up to $2,250,000 in fines. An arraignment date for McCoskey and Weeks has not yet been scheduled.

Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, states, “This collaborative effort sends a strong message to medical providers that such reprehensible conduct will not be tolerated involving our elderly and most vulnerable citizens.”

If anyone has information concerning possible health care fraud being committed, please call either the HHS-OIG Fraud Hotline at 1-800-447-8477 or the FBI Fraud Hotline at 1-800- 225-5324.