Murfreesboro Psychiatrist Dr. Saran Mudumbi Disciplined by State
Saran Mudumbi testifies in a 2008 murder trial after prescribing powerful mind-altering drugs to a 5-yr-old girl.
Murfreesboro Psychiatrist Dr. Saran Mudumbi was disciplined by the State of Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners by an order of September 27, 2017 for submitting false claims to TennCare. CCHR Nashville has launched an investigation and asks anyone with knowledge of further wrongdoing to report abuse.
According to the State of Tennessee:
[Mudumbi] submitted, or caused to be submitted, claims to the TennCare program under [CPT] code 90807 that were not supported by the corresponding medical records.
“CPT code 90807” refers to Current Procedural Terminology code 90807, a billing code related to a psychotherapy session of at least 45 minutes. The state alleged that Mudumbi was billing TennCare as if he were seeing patients for 45 minutes, when he was only seeing them for 15. Mudumbi did not admit liability, but agreed to pay $535,633.72 to the state of Tennessee to avoid further legal action.
The State of Tennessee also notes:
[Mudumbi] agrees that the facts alleged are sufficient to establish violation of the statute, which is part of the Tennessee Medical Practice Act for which disciplinary action before and by the Board is authorized.
Mudumbi’s license was reprimanded by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, a disciplinary action that becomes part of the public record and can lead to harsher punishment for future infractions. He was ordered to pay civil penalties of $300, in addition to the half million he agreed to in his earlier settlement.
Mudumbi (full name Saranyacharyulu Venkata Mudumbi, M.D.) practices child and adolescent psychiatry and has been affiliated with St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He studied medicine and psychiatry in India before attending Meharry Medical College in Nashville and Brown University in Rhode Island. He currently has practice locations in Nashville (2900 Felicia Street) and Murfreesboro (528 N. University Street).
Mudumbi has a 1-star rating on Yelp, where reviewer Keisha S. foreshadowed his insurance scam in July 2016:
If I could provide a negative star review it still wouldn’t be enough to truly qualify how pathetic of an experience it was to associate with this “Dr.”… it was evident his purpose was to get the money from insurance billing without having to really do anything… UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANYONE UTILIZE THIS HORRIBLE PERSON THAT IS ALLOWED TO PRACTICE MEDICINE BECAUSE HE IS USELESS AND INCOMPETENT. His office is incredibly disorganized and the receptionist are as unfriendly as it gets. But I guess that must be a prerequisite to work there because this office is HORRIBLE all the way around. God help you if you seek treatment from this useless “Dr”.
Yelp reviewer Marci R. wrote in February 2017:
I would not recommend seeing this dr. He said he was writing me a prescription but he did not. The lady that checked me in was rude.
In 2008, Mudumbi was involved in the criminal trial of Sherri Mathis, a woman convicted of the 2004 murder of 6-yr-old Cheyenne Delp. Mudubmi testified that he prescribed an assortment of drugs for Cheyenne based on on information from Mathis. At the time, Southern Standard reported:
Dr. Mudumbi said Cheyenne had 13 visits to his office, the first on April 3, 2003, and the last on May 21, 2004, roughly one month before she died.
After her initial visit, Cheyenne was given [Strattera, Risperdal, and Imipramine].
After two weeks, on April 17, 2003, Dr. Mudumbi said he took Cheyenne off Strattera at the request of Mathis. He testified Mathis wasn’t satisfied with its effectiveness.
So Dr. Mudumbi replaced Strattera with Tenex, the brand name for Guanfacine. He also doubled Cheyenne’s dose of Imipramine to 50 mg daily.
About three weeks later, on May 8, 2003, Dr. Mudumbi said Mathis still wasn’t satisfied with the medication. That’s when he added Seroquel to the mix.
Along with Benadryl, which had already been prescribed to help with side effects of the other medicines, Cheyenne was taking five prescriptions daily in May 2003. At that time, she was 5 years old.
CCHR Nashville is investigating Saran Mudumbi and requesting anyone with further information fill out the report form on its website.