The Department of Justice announced Thursday that 15 people have been charged, including six medical professionals, with participating in healthcare fraud schemes that resulted in $2 billion in fraudulent claims.
During a news conference, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced that the individuals had been indicted on charges related to fraudulent claims to government and private health care programs, such as unnecessary artery treatments, bogus substance abuse treatment programs, and bogus hospice services.
Prosecutors claim the defendants billed over $1.6 billion in a plan to entice vulnerable individuals to California for bogus substance misuse treatment, calling it “the largest case of its type ever prosecuted by the Department.”
“This is the worst sort of fraud since doctors have made an oath to do no harm and are now prioritizing their own financial interests over the needs of other patients,” Essayli added. “It’s the worst kind of harm.”
Officials also accuse the defendants of illegally billing Medicare for unneeded atherectomy procedures that resulted in injuries, as well as billing Medicare for more than $138 million in three separate hospice fraud schemes involving patients who were not terminally ill.
The Justice Department announced the arrest of eight people in Los Angeles on Thursday.
“Healthcare fraud is not a victimless crime,” stated Darren Lian, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office. “It harms patients, drives up healthcare costs, and diverts critical resources away from those who genuinely need care.”
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