Edison Man Underreported Income At Surgical Center: NJAG

EDISON, NJ — The owner of an Edison surgical center had paid over $700,000 to settle claims that he allegedly defrauded the State’s Charity Care Fund by under-reporting annual gross receipts from his businesses, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said.

Harshad Patel of Edison, the owner of AP Surgery Center, LLC and AP Diagnostics Imaging, Inc., has repaid $502,600 to the Department of Health, and an additional $215,400 to two realtors who noticed the illegal conduct, Grewal said.

According to Grewal, Patel underreported the surgical center's income in order to get subsidies from the state meant for centers that provide charity care for those who cannot afford to pay. Over six years, Patel allegedly evaded more than $1 million in Charity Care Fund assessments by underreporting his income.

“This is an important settlement for New Jersey residents -- not only because of the dollars involved, but because of the message it sends that we take seriously our responsibility to root out false claims activity and protect the State’s charitable health care assets,” said Attorney General Grewal. “Through our own efforts and in collaboration with our government and private partners, we are committed to ensuring that charity health care funding goes to help the people it was meant to help, and that unscrupulous health care service providers who cheat the fund are held accountable.”

”New Jersey' s charity care program provides $252 million in subsidies to hospitals for the care they provide our most vulnerable residents,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal. “Every dollar collected through assessments on health care facilities to support this program is valuable. The Department of Health applauds the hard work of the Attorney General's Office in holding accountable facilities that attempt to mislead the state.”

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