The Feds have joined  two lawsuits that allege that Florida’s Asad Qamar, M.D., who was Medicare’s highest-paid cardiologist in 2012, taking in $18 million in reimbursements  that year, got patients to have unnecessary invasive heart testing to boost his income.

Modern Healthcare reports that in one of the lawsuits Dr.  Qamar and his group ”routinely waived patients’ Medicare copayments and deductible payments so that, the suit says, ‘patients had no reason to turn down services and would oblige Dr. Qamar’s improper recommendation that they consent to all manner of procedures for which there was no medically indicated need.’ according to the lawsuit. Qamar and the institute would then bill the government for the full cost of the treatment.”

A lawyer for the cardiologist said:

“Dr. Qamar practices under the highest medical and ethical standards. Any claims to the contrary are unsubstantiated and the doctor will defend himself vigorously against these baseless allegations.”

It’s interesting that so many of  alleged overbilling involve Florida physicians, but then, it does have so many people on Medicare.