State prosecutors say an East Cobb lab owner turned routine medical screening into a six-figure Medicaid cash stream, and now he is staring down felony fraud charges in Cobb County.
Maged Awad, 61, who operates a clinical laboratory in East Cobb, has been indicted on accusations that he submitted more than $300,000 in false claims to Georgia Medicaid. Authorities say the lab billed for screening tests without legitimate physician orders and listed doctors as ordering providers even though they had not requested the work. Awad faces three counts of Medicaid fraud and is currently free on bond while the case moves through Cobb Superior Court.
According to the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, the claims were submitted through K&S Clinical Diagnostics Consulting Services, LLC and involved genetic and other screening tests allegedly performed without valid physician orders. The office further alleges that some of the claims identified medical professionals as the ordering providers when those providers had not actually ordered the testing. These allegations were first laid out in coverage by Atlanta News First.
Court filings reviewed by local reporters show that a Cobb County grand jury returned an indictment on Feb. 26, alleging that K&S received more than $307,000 in Medicaid payments for genetic and screening tests between March 18, 2022, and June 24, 2023. The indictment also alleges that Awad listed three physicians on paperwork who had not ordered the tests and that a portion of the Medicaid payments was electronically transferred into a bank account controlled by his wife, Safaa (also spelled Safa) Awad. Booking records show Awad was taken into custody at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on March 11 and released the same day after posting a $110,220 bond, according to East Cobb News.
State corporate records list K&S Clinical Diagnostics Consulting Services, LLC with a principal office on North Park Place and show Safaa Awad as a registered agent, while the federal NPI registry lists Maged Awad as an authorized official for the lab. Public filings place the company at 1995 North Park Pl SE, with earlier documents listing 5607 Glenridge Dr, addresses that match the provider information used in Medicaid billing. Those registration details appear in records from the Georgia Secretary of State and the NPI Registry.
Charges and court status
The counts against Awad are felony medical assistance fraud charges that accuse him of submitting false Medicaid claims. The Attorney General’s Office has emphasized that an indictment is only a set of allegations and that Awad, like any defendant, is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. The office’s Medicaid Fraud and Patient Protection Division has been running a broader series of investigations into allegedly improper Medicaid billing around Georgia, part of an ongoing statewide push to police public health care dollars, according to the Office of the Attorney General.
Why this matters
Lab-billing fraud has become a favorite target for federal and state enforcement in recent years, particularly when it comes to genetic and other high-reimbursement screening tests. Multi-state crackdowns have yielded hefty judgments and settlements, including one joint federal-state case involving cancer genetic testing that led to more than $114 million in judgments. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina recently outlined that scheme and the resulting recovery in a press release, highlighting how quickly fraudulent claims can drain public programs.
In Awad’s case, an initial court date has not yet been scheduled before Cobb Superior Court Judge Kimberly A. Childs, and prosecutors have not released a timetable for their next filings. For now, the indictment and booking records make up the public paper trail. Local outlet East Cobb News is tracking the docket and booking information as the case moves forward.
