Patients react to fraud indictment of Springfield cardiologist

Federal and state agents raided a Springfield cardiac clinic in 2015. The Ohio Institute of Cardiac Care, which state medical license records indicate is operated by Dr. Salim Dahdah, and he now has been indicted on federal charges.BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Federal and state agents raided a Springfield cardiac clinic in 2015. The Ohio Institute of Cardiac Care, which state medical license records indicate is operated by Dr. Salim Dahdah, and he now has been indicted on federal charges.BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Dr. Salim Dahdah, the owner of the Ohio Institute of Cardiac Care (OICC) in Springfield, and his wife, Cindy Dahdah, were both charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud and making false statements, according to an affidavit filed in Dayton’s U.S. District Court.

The indictment alleges the couple received more than $2 million from Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary nuclear stress tests and medically unnecessary coronary interventions such as pacemaker insertion and stent procedures, according to a Dept. of Justice press release.

More than 400 people across the nation were charged in the federal operation.

MORE: Springfield cardiologist among hundreds charged with health care fraud

Kimberly and Ron Honeyman of Springfield were both patients of Dahdah’s and felt he was a caring doctor. He saved Kimberly’s life when she had a heart attack in April of 2012, they said.

“If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think she’d be here,” Ron Honeyman said.

But they both noticed that they were subjected to a lot of tests.

“I’d go in one week for a test, and I’d get ready to check out and they’d say, ‘We’ve got you scheduled for another test,’” Ron Honeyman said. “I thought it was kinda strange because he didn’t say nothing to me in the room about it.”

His wife was scheduled for appointments twice a week for several months straight at one point.

When the OICC office in Springfield was raided in 2015, the couple received a letter from their insurance provider informing them that Dahdah was no longer covered on their plan.

It was a stressful process trying to find a new doctor, Kimberly Honeyman said. But when they did find a cardiologist in Urbana they liked, he told them all those tests were unnecessary.

“He couldn’t believe I was in there that much,” she said.

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