Bloomington doctor loses medical license

A former Bloomington physician who specialized in anesthesiology recently had his medical license revoked.

Last Thursday, the Indiana Medical Licensing Board officially revoked Dr. Kamal Tiwari’s license to practice medicine.

The physician’s practice first came into question in August 2005 following an audit by the Office of the Inspector General that evaluated irregularities in Tiwari’s billing methodology.

Tiwari, 60, was convicted Sept. 18 for prescribing addictive pain medication to known substance abusers and committing health care fraud in seeking Medicaid reimbursement for performing unwarranted medical procedures.
 
At that time, he pled guilty before a federal judge to health care fraud resulting in serious bodily injury as well as illegal distribution of drugs.

Tiwari was ordered to serve 42 months in federal prison. He faces three years on supervised release in addition to having to pay $1.3 million in restitution to Medicare, Medicaid and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, according to a press release.

The decision comes following a licensing complaint filed by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s office, according to the release.

The board ordered Tiwari to pay the maximum fine of $22,000 within a six-month period.

“While Dr. Tiwari has already been criminally convicted and faces federal prison time, it’s important the state acted now to protect patients in the future,” Zoeller said in the release. “His former patients suffered serious health consequences, and in some
cases death, as a result of his apparent indifference to their addictions.”

The Attorney General’s Office filed a separate administrative complaint against Tiwari in April 2010, the same time the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency revoked Tiwari’s ability to prescribe controlled substances, according to the release.

Until last Thursday, the medical licensing board delayed the disciplinary proceedings, and all parties reached the consensus to wait until Tiwari’s separate criminal charges were filed in court.

— Michael Majchrowicz