Corona Doc Accused of Self-Referring Patients In Fraud Scheme

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A Corona pain management specialist accused of referring workers' compensation patients to clinics he owned in order to pocket tens of thousands of dollars for tests and treatments pleaded not guilty Monday to felony charges.

Dr. Sanjoy Banerjee, 42, was arrested in May following an investigation by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office that culminated in the filing of two counts of insurance fraud and five counts of perjury.

Banerjee was arraigned before Superior Court Judge David Gunn, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Aug. 16 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

The defendant is free on a $30,000 bond.

According to prosecutors, between November 2014 and December 2016, Banerjee referred multiple patients who visited his office with workers' comp- related injuries to a laboratory and surgery center in which he had proprietary interests. Patients were specifically sent to the Rochester Imperial Surgical Center in Wildomar for epidural injections, the D.A.'s office alleged.

As a result of the tests and treatments, the defendant billed health insurers $180,000, according to prosecutors.

Under state law, doctors are barred from self-referring patients to medical facilities they own.

"Dr. Banerjee reportedly signed at least five doctor's reports declaring, under penalty of perjury, he had not referred patients to his own companies," according to a D.A.'s office statement.

According to the California Medical Board, Banerjee's license to practice medicine is active and valid until the end of the year. There is no record of disciplinary action.

Banerjee is an American Board of Anesthesiology-certified anesthesiologist and has been in practice for over a decade.

He has no documented prior misdemeanor or felony convictions in Riverside County.

— By City News Service / Image via Shutterstock