US District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Monday sentenced a St. Louis, Missouri area doctor to 70 months in prison for two separate criminal cases, one charged in 2020 and one in 2024. Dr. Asim Muhammad Ali, 54, was also ordered to pay $1,845,916 in restitution for the 2020 case and $3,902 for the 2024 case. In the 2020 case, Dr. Ali was involved in a conspiracy to pay kickbacks for urine specimens referred for testing to one of the companies he owned, Central Diagnostic Laboratory. Dr. Ali also admitted signing prescriptions for controlled substances for patients who appeared to be selling or giving away their drugs. He also pre-signed prescriptions for controlled substances to be given to patients of one of his other businesses, the Institute for Pain Management LLC. Dr. Ali did not see the patients on the dates they received the prescriptions and rarely looked at patient charts or determined a legitimate medical need for the controlled substances. Judge Autrey ordered Dr. Ali and his codefendants to pay $950,381 to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, $13,993 to Tricare and $881,542 to Missouri Medicaid.
In the 2024 case, Dr. Ali agreed to perform healthcare services for the Medicare patients of a company Dr. Mohd Azfar Malik owned, Psych Care Consultants LLC, but bill using Dr. Malik’s name and Medicare billing number. The doctors billed Medicare for “annual wellness visits,” a comprehensive yearly appointment, but Dr. Ali did not see them in person and simply called asked a series of questions. Medicare paid $3,902 for the fraudulent claims. In August, Dr. Malik was sentenced to five years of probation, fined $20,000 and ordered to pay restitution of $19,442. He has also agreed to surrender his Drug Enforcement Administration registrations authorizing him to administer controlled substances.