Another doctor is sentenced in fraud

Dr. Bipin Patel receives probation and a fine for accepting kickbacks. His sentencing was the latest in the Clearwater Clinical Labs case.

By GRAHAM BRINK

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 20, 2001

TAMPA -- A doctor linked to the now-defunct Clearwater Clinical Laboratories was sentenced in federal court Thursday for accepting kickbacks.

Dr. Bipin Patel, 53, of New Port Richey received two years of probation and a $2,000 fine and will have to pay $17,000 in restitution. Patel had faced a charge of conspiracy to commit Medicare fraud and numerous counts of illegally accepting checks for his referrals to the lab.

Patel was the latest in a series of doctors who have entered pleas and been sentenced in the Clearwater Clinical Labs case.

Still facing sentencing hearings are the former owners and operators of the lab, James McKeown Sr. of Clearwater and his son James McKeown Jr. of Seminole, and former lab manager Vincent Gepp of Palm Harbor. They pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud last year.

Patel pleaded guilty last year and agreed to cooperate with investigators. He told them about the relationship between the lab and the doctors and about how the lab put his wife on the payroll as a "ghost employee," someone who got paid for doing essentiallynothing.

Patel had faced a potential prison sentence, but, as with the other doctors charged in the investigation, the prosecution agreed to recommend a lighter sentence to the judge because of Patel's cooperation. Patel told U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew that he was sorry and had otherwise lived "blemish-free."

"I've always worked hard and honestly," he said.

Bucklew referred to many glowing letters she read from Bipin's supporters and was particularly impressed that all three of Patel's children were valedictorians and went on to top colleges. But Bucklew was quick to add that Patel should have known better than to accept the kickbacks and that "the buck stopped with him."

The FBI raided the clinic about two years ago as part of a massive federal Medicare fraud investigation. Fourteen doctors were accused of steering nearly $1.4-million in Medicare business to the lab in the mid 1990s in exchange for $400,000 in kickbacks. The Clearwater laboratory has been characterized by the FBI as "the largest payer of illegal kickbacks in the Pinellas County area."

Patel, of 8935 Skymaster Drive, was charged with 10 counts of illegally accepting $2,000 and $1,000 checks from November 1995 to May 1997 for his referrals. The clinic, which paid Patel about $17,000, billed Medicare about $99,477 in services for his patients, according to the indictment. Patel's action did not involve unnecessary testing or any harm to patients.

- Contact Graham Brink at (813) 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com.

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