ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando doctor has been arrested for Medicaid fraud, the Florida Department of Health and Office of the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit said Friday.
Officials announced Dr. Ishrat Sohail is accused of giving vaccines to patients with private insurance, while the vaccines were intended for Medicaid and uninsured children as part of the Vaccines for Children Program, officials said.
Sohail has an office in Orlando at 2702 North Orange Avenue, Suite B.
Sohail is accused of giving patients partial doses of vaccines while billing insurance for the full amount, officials said. The partial doses also may not provide sufficient protection from potentially dangerous vaccine-preventable diseases, officials said.
The department is working with the Agency for Health Care Administration and health plans to notify all potentially impacted families. At this time, it is estimated that approximately 500 children may have been impacted, officials said in a news release.
Sohail’s license to practice medicine in the state of Florida has been suspended by the state.
The department in 2016 determined Sohail administered two vials of VFC vaccines to non-Medicaid patients and billed private insurance companies, officials said. She was suspended from the VFC program for two months.
Sohail was placed on a corrective action plan, which limited the vaccines available to her, and in January, she was found to be in non-compliance, officials said.
Any child who received a vaccine from Sohail between 2016 and 2018 should contact a new primary care provider and consider revaccination, officials said.
There is also the possibility that Sohail did not follow best practices in maintaining the sterility of the vaccines she administered. If a child experienced a severe adverse reaction or infection at the injection site of any vaccine administered by Sohail or her staff, please contact the DOH-Orange epidemiology at 407-858-1485, officials said.
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