An Ocala doctor was fined $5,000 for allegedly failing to examine patients and ordering his nurses to “backdate or otherwise alter patient records” to show that he had.
The Florida Department of Health’s Board of Medicine issued a final order on Wednesday requiring Dr. Satyendra Raghaw to pay a fine of $5,000 to settle an administrative complaint that was filed against him in January.
According to the complaint, between January 2021 and August 2021, Raghaw “on one or more occasions” failed to physically examine patients “despite documenting that he had.”
The complaint states that Raghaw “had his sponsored APRNs (advanced practice registered nurses) use his computer sign-in to document patient records on his behalf” and that he ordered the nurses to “backdate or otherwise alter patient records.”
According to Florida Statutes 458.331(1)(k), a medical licensee shall be subjected to discpline for making “deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representations in or related to the practice of medicine or employing a trick or scheme in the practice of medicine.”
The department’s complaint says Raghaw made deceptive or “fraudulent representations” by failing to “personally examine a patient despite documenting that he had,” and instructing his nurse to document the patient record on his behalf before ordering the nurse to backdate/alter the patient records.
The complaint asked the Board of Medicine to enter an order imposing “permanent revocation or suspension of [Raghaw’s] license, restriction of practice, imposition of an administrative fine, issuance of a reprimand, placement of [Raghaw] on probation, corrective action, refund of fees billed or collected, remedial education, and/or any other relief that the Board deems appropriate.”
According to the settlement agreement, which Raghaw signed in March, the doctor is required to pay $5,000 to the DOH Compliance Management Unit. He is also responsible for reimbursement costs to the department for its investigation, which amount to approximately $3,922.41.
In addition to the fine, Raghaw must also complete five hours of continuing medical education in laws, rules, and ethics in the next year.
Raghaw is a board-certified, internal medicine specialist who currently practices in Ocala. According to his medical profile, he graduated from the Gandhi Medical College in India in 2004. He completed his residency in pediatrics in 2007 in India and completed a residency in internal medicine at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee in 2016.