By Lisa Backus
The state Medical Examining Board agreed Tuesday to discipline two doctors including a physician awaiting sentencing in a federal health care fraud case.
Dr. Fawad Hameedi, of New York, has been working periodically at urgent care centers in Connecticut while awaiting sentencing for his role in a health care fraud ring operating in New York, according to documents. He has not worked as a physician in Connecticut since March, officials said.
The board voted to place Hameedi on probation for two years with several stipulations and reprimand his Connecticut license to practice medicine. Under the terms of the discipline, Hameedi cannot operate a solo practice during the probation period and he must have his employer submit reports to the state Department of Public Health (DPH) every two months that he is working safely and using accurate billing practices.
If he is sentenced to a period of federal incarceration, his Connecticut medical license will be suspended and the probation period will be halted until he is released and practicing medicine again, documents said.
Hameedi and several other physicians including his uncle were indicted by federal agents in 2017 after an investigation into a scheme to make false statements in requests for insurance authorizations for diagnostic tests and medical insurance claims, officials with the DPH said.
During one of the incidents, Hameedi represented himself as physician during a phone call with a health care management entity before he had obtained his medical license, documents said.
Hameedi pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in 2018 and is awaiting sentencing, court documents said.
The board also suspended the Connecticut license of Dr. Roozbeh Badii who holds licenses in several states and was recently disciplined in Maryland and Virginia. Maryland health authorities suspended Badii’s medical license in April after a hearing on allegations he was “professionally, physically or mentally incompetent” to practice.
Virginia health authorities suspended Badii’s license in their state a month later based on the Maryland discipline. Badii said during the meeting that he does limited medical consultations in Connecticut. He holds licenses in 10 states. The DPH recommended that board also suspend his license until a full hearing in this state on whether he presents “a clear and immediate danger to the public” can be held.
Badii’s Connecticut license was reprimanded in 2016 following an incident in Maryland when he signed prescription forms in advance in his work as the medical director of a rehabilitation and nursing center.
The board also agreed to reinstate with restrictions the medical license of a doctor who had not practiced medicine since 2007. Dr. Onikepe Adegbola was seeking a reinstatement of her license to practice after working in the pharmaceutical industry for more than a decade and then staying home to care for her triplets while running a biotech and a food company part-time. She has not practiced medicine since completing a fellowship in Nuclear medicine in 2007, documents said.
She is seeking a job that does not involve clinical work, DPH officials said. The board agreed to reinstate her license with the provision that she doesn’t practice clinically.
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