Business-to-business, or B2B, refers to electronic commerce between two businesses. It’s a business model in which the companies involved create products and services for other businesses and organizations. “Creating product” has the potential for fraud! Nagaindra Srivastav owned a business, B2B Apps Solutions, that developed technology based on the B2B model, which connected businesses to businesses and streamlined business operations. Srivastav saw firsthand the scalability of his technology and knew it was the platform to use for his side business in Medicare fraud. Connecting fraudsters to fraud. It’s the fraudster’s business model! F2F!
Srivastav created and operated a B2B internet-based platform called RepsHub that individuals and businesses in the healthcare sector used to buy and sell physician orders for durable medical equipment (DME). DME supplies are ordered by health care providers for patients every day or extended use. Srivastav purchased signed doctors’ orders for Medicare patients to receive ankle, back, knee and leg braces from telemedicine companies based in the Philippines and Pakistan. These orders were medically unnecessary. In fact, authorizing physician never spoke with the patients that the orders were written for, nor signed the orders to prescribe the DME. In addition to selling on the RepsHub platform, the physician orders he bought from overseas, Srivastav also sold leads obtained through local call centers controlled by himself. Srivastav sold these physicians orders on Reps Hub for $325 per lead.
Connecting fraudsters with B2B technology is what Srivastav was all about. It sure was lucrative. In total, Srivastav received over $48 million in fraudulent Medicare payments. On March 30, 2023, Srivastav was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay restitution.
Great job by the Department of Health and Human Services in the battle against fraudsters using technology.
Today’s Fraud Of The Day is based on article “Florida man who sold fraudulent physician orders in $48M scheme gets 9 years in prison” published by Beckers Hospital Review on March 31, 2023
Nagaindra Srivastav of Tampa, Fla., has been sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay more than $48 million in restitution after he was convicted of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks.
According to the Justice Department, Mr. Srivastav sold fraudulent physicians’ orders to co-conspirators who used the orders to obtain more than $48 million in fraudulent payments from Medicare.
