Doctor Makes $2M Settlement For Fake Surgeries, Fraudulent Billing

India-West Staff Reporter

HOUSTON, TX—Dr. Ajay Aggarwal, a Houston-based anesthesiologist and pain medicine doctor, has agreed to pay a settlement of over $2 million to resolve allegations that he submitted fraudulent claims to federal healthcare programs. The settlement, totaling $2,053,515, concludes a joint investigation into the doctor’s billing practices.

According to U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei, the 63-year-old physician and his entities, Ajay Aggarwal and PRWCSWTX LLC, were found to have billed programs like Medicare for invasive surgical procedures that were never performed on patients.

Investigators revealed that from November 2021 to March 2023, Aggarwal and his clinic, The Pain Relief & Wellness Center, repeatedly billed for the surgical implantation of neurostimulator electrodes. This is a complex and costly procedure that typically requires an operating room and can cost federal programs thousands of dollars.

Instead of performing the billed surgery, however, patients at the clinic received a far simpler and less expensive procedure. This involved the use of an electro-acupuncture device where a small wire was inserted a few millimeters into the patient’s ear, with a neurostimulator taped behind it. This procedure was performed in the doctor’s clinic without a surgical incision, a significant deviation from the one billed.

“A doctor who uses simple medical devices on his patients, yet bills Medicare for a sophisticated spinal surgery, is bilking the American taxpayer, plain and simple,” said U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.