Atlanta radiologist sentenced for fraudulent reports

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Rajashahker P. Reddy, MD, an Atlanta radiologist, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on charges of healthcare fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud. He was also fined $15,000 and ordered to pay $919,000 in restitution, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Evidence showed that from May 2007 through January 2008, Reddy signed and submitted thousands of reports without reviewing the associated films, according to WGCL-TV. Instead, Reddy would have non-physician technologists review films and prepare reports to which he would sign in his name. In some cases, staff at Reddy’s company, Reddy Solutions Inc. (RSI), would even sign for him and transmit the report themselves.

Most of the fraudulently prepared reports involved x-rays, but there were also some CT scans, mammograms and ultrasounds.

Computer records presented at trial showed that Reddy signed more than 70,000 during the period in question, yet he accessed the digital images from the studies in fewer than 5,900 cases in that time, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

The records also included dozens of reports supposedly signed by Reddy, but were signed at times when he was on an airplane lacking internet access.

Reddy was also convicted of obstructing the investigation by instructing employees to destroy the original computer records that tracked user access of images and create fabricated records stating Reddy had been viewing the images himself, according to WGCL-TV. He also asked his employees to lie to investigators.