From Feb. 2006-Aug. 2008, physicians and staff at three clinics in and around Sacramento, Calif., allegedly billed Medicare more than $5 million in fraudulent claims for treating patients who were not sick. Vardges Egiazarian, MD, the alleged leader of the scheme, admitted healthy patients were paid $100 per visit in exchange for allowing the clinic to bill for its services. In some cases, services were billed for dates when the beneficiary was deceased, according to the report.
Dr. Egiazarian and another physician at the clinic, Derrick Johnson, MD, pleaded guilty last year. Dr. Egiazarian was sentenced in November to six-and-a-half years in prison and required to pay $1.5 million in restitution. Dr. Johnson has not yet been sentenced.
Last week, a grand jury extended healthcare fraud charges to five additional physicians and six others who knowingly committed healthcare fraud. Those indicted include: Alexander Popov, MD, Ramanathan Prakash, MD, Emilio Cruz III, MD, Lana Le Chabrier, MD, Sol Teitelbaum, MD, Migran Petrosyan, Khachatur Arutunyan, Shushanik Martirosyan, Zoya Belov, Nazaret Salmanyan and Liw Jiaw Saechao.
Read the KXTV News’ report on the Sacramento Medicare fraud scheme.
At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.