Doctor charged with Medicaid fraud

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS - Pediatrician Dr. Urmundalvaru Mallikarjuna was arrested Tuesday on charges of Medicaid fraud.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum accuses Dr. Mallik, as he is known to his patients, of billing the state's Medicaid program for more than $100,000 "for which he knew he could not be reimbursed," according to a news release.

The release states that for the last three years Mallikarjuna had billed the state for providing physical exams, so-called "well visits", to Medicaid-recipient children who had actually come in for "sick" visits.

That allowed him to double his payment from Medicaid, the release says.

The charges against Mallikarjuna, 52, are scheme to defraud and wire fraud. The wire fraud charge stems from him using the Internet to submit false claims, the attorney general's office said.

Mallikarjuna, who worked at Okaloosa Walton Pediatrics at 4451 U.S. Highway 331 S. in DeFuniak Springs, submitted more than 2,600 false claims, many of them duplicates, according to the attorney general's office.

He is also accused of billing Medicaid for office visits "that were in reality brief phone conversations with their parents," the news release said.

It is believed the claims affected between 100 and 200 patients, according to the attorney general's office.

The news release said several former employees who had attended Medicaid billing seminars told Mallikarjuna that what he was doing was illegal.

A woman who answered the phone at Okaloosa Walton Pediatrics on Tuesday said no one was available to speak.

"I'm sorry, I can't give out any information," she said.