Chesapeake (Va.) Regional Medical Center, formerly known as Chesapeake Regional Hospital, has been indicted for healthcare fraud and conspiracy, accused of allowing Javaid Perwaiz, MD, to perform unnecessary procedures and submitting fraudulent claims for reimbursements to Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers.
Dr. Perwaiz, who practiced at CRMC from 1984 until his arrest in 2019, had a history of misconduct, including termination from another hospital for unnecessary surgeries and a 1995 conviction for tax fraud, according to a Jan. 8 news release from the Justice Department. Despite this, CRMC repeatedly re-credentialed him, knowing his background, felony convictions and involvement in malpractice lawsuits.
From 2010 to 2019, Dr. Perwaiz and CRMC allegedly conspired to defraud various healthcare programs, receiving approximately $18.5 million in reimbursements.
The hospital is accused of enabling practices including elective inductions before 39 weeks of gestation without medical justification, misclassifying inpatient-only surgeries as outpatient procedures and sterilizing Medicaid patients without proper consent.
According to the indictment, employees and practitioners at CRMC observed these discrepancies but failed to intervene, while the hospital continued billing for these procedures.
Dr. Perwaiz was convicted in 2020 on 52 counts of healthcare fraud, including unnecessary hysterectomies and elective early deliveries.