CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Chesapeake Regional Medical Center with healthcare fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States and interference with government functions.
The charges are in connection to the Medical Center's employment of Javaid Perwaiz, who was arrested in 2019 for doing unnecessary gynecological surgeries on women in addition to submitting fictitious claims to health care benefit programs for reimbursement.
According to the U.S. attorney, CRMC granted Perwaiz with priviliges from 1984 until his arrest in 2019, despite knowing that his privileges were terminated at another hospital for performing unnecessary surgeries and that he was convicted of two federal felonies in 1996.
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The U.S. attorney claims that CRMC allegedly received $18.5 million in reimbursements for the surgeries Perwaiz performed and states that he did not act alone.
“As alleged in the indictment, Dr. Perwaiz did not act alone in this conspiracy to needlessly sterilize and otherwise harm women. The Grand Jury found today that CRMC was complicit in this horrifying scheme to place profits over patient care,” said Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Authorities allege some surgeries he performed were not medically necessary, were performed without consent and in some cases were not performed at all. They also allege that he submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana, Sentara Optima and other health care benefit programs.
Previous coverage: Chesapeake doctor facing charges after accused of performing ‘unnecessary surgeries’
When performing the surgeries, Perwaiz allegedly submitted flowsheets with an accurate due date, and another fabricated sheet with the patient at 39 weeks or further in gestation.
It is alleged that CRMC employees and practitioners were aware of the discrepancies made, but allowed Perwaiz to continue these practices and continued billing for them.
Perwaiz was convicted of 52 counts of health care fraud and false statements in health care matters and sentenced to 59 years in prison back in November 2020.
CRMC lawyers reached out to News 3's Maragret Kavanaugh to provide a statement on the charges they are facing:
"With great disappointment, we learned today that charges were returned against Chesapeake Regional Healthcare. We look forward to an opportunity to rebut these unfounded charges in court and are confident that the legal process will result in Chesapeake’s exoneration."
