WISE PSYCHIATRIST PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL HEALTHCARE FRAUD

A Wise psychiatrist has pleaded guilty to federal healthcare fraud. The Western District U.S. Attorney's Office reports that 52-year-old Uzma Ehtesham pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Abingdon on Thursday. According to court documents, Ehtesham billed Virginia Medicare and Medicaid $500,000 in total fraudulent payments for individual payment office visits between 2010 and 2016. She claimed that it was "extensive, time consuming and costly office visits," while she was actually seeing patients in groups of two to four for only five to six minutes at a time. Ehtesham is required to pay $1 million total in restitution, fines, and forfeiture and her sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 28, 2021. 

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