West Bloomfield Doc Gets Prison For Medicare Fraud

DETROIT, MI – A West Bloomfield doctor has been sentenced to six years in prison for his role in a $10.4 million conspiracy to defraud Medicare, reported the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit. In addition to his prison term, Dr. Mahmoud Rahim also will have to forfeit $1.68 million and pay restitution.

Rahim, 65, in September, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to receive health care kickbacks and two counts of receiving healthcare kickbacks, reported the U.S. Attorney's office.

Rahim accepted kickbacks from his co-conspirators in exchange for referring Medicare patients for electromyogram tests, some of which were unnecessary, and physical therapy performed by unlicensed individuals, federal prosecutors said. Rahim disguised these payments as “rent” and set up a shell company to hide this illegal scheme.

Rahim was charged along with office manager Janet Nahkle, 58, of Dearborn, Michigan, in an indictment returned in June 2016. Nakhle pleaded guilty to conspiracy to receive health care kickbacks in December 2016 and was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison.

The FBI and the Office of the Investigator General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services investigated the case, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office.

Image via Shutterstock