Eight In State Facing Federal Charges
Eight individuals in Southern California, including two physicians, were among 90 indicted nationwide on federal charges earlier this week for allegedly defrauding the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
The indictments, which were announced on Tuesday, were part of the ongoing work of a strike force jointly operated by the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The indictments allege that the suspects – which include 16 physicians and 11 nurses – systematically bilked the Medicare and Medicaid programs out of as much as $260 million.
“The crimes charged represent the face of healthcare fraud today – doctors billing for services that were never rendered, supply companies providing motorized wheelchairs that were never needed, recruiters paying kickbacks to get Medicare billing numbers of patients,” said Acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General David A. O’Neil. “The fraud was rampant, it was brazen, and it permeated every part of the Medicare system.”
The charges were part of a seventh wave of “takedowns” that have been announced by federal prosecutors since the joint task force was formed in 2009. Altogether, some 1,900 defendants have been charged to date and accused of defrauding the federal healthcare system of more than $6 billion.
The California defendants include:
• Three operators of a Valencia-based durable medical equipment firm who allegedly foisted $3.5 million worth of medically unnecessary wheelchairs, hospital beds and orthotics on Medicare and Medi-Cal enrollees, paying kickbacks to solicitors in order to obtain the business.
• A marketing employee for a Carson-based durable medical equipment firm who was allegedly paid kickbacks in relation to more than $586,000 in claims submitted for medically unnecessary wheelchairs.
• The owner of an Inglewood-based durable medical equipment firm who allegedly conspired with an area physician to obtain unnecessary prescriptions for nearly $500,000 in wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment. That physician, Jason C. Ling, M.D., was also indicted for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.
• The owner of a Van Nuys-based durable medical equipment firm who allegedly submitted more than $28,000 in fraudulent claims.
• Robert Glazer, M.D., who operated a Los Angeles clinic that allegedly dispensed unnecessary prescriptions for wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment, and also billed the Medicare program for medical services that were never performed.
Trial dates for the defendants are not set.
