Former Execs of LA Hospital Settle Medicare Lawsuit
BusinessWeek reports that two former executives of LA hospital have settled a Medicare lawsuit with the U.S. Attorney's Office. They were charged with Medicare fraud and abuse in a civil lawsuit. In the settlement of the civil lawsuit, Robert Bourseau and Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, former executives of the City of Angels Medical Center, have agreed to pay $10 million dollars. The pair have also pled guilty to criminal charges and have agreed to pay $4.1 million dollars in restitution back in July 2009.
The two men paid a recruiter $500,000 to find homeless people in order to bring them into the hospital for unnecessary medical treatment that they then billed to Medicare and Medi-Cal.
Medi-Cal is a public health insurance program which provides needed health care services for low-income individuals including families with children, seniors, persons with disabilities, foster care, pregnant women, and low income people with specific diseases such as tuberculosis, breast cancer or HIV/AIDS. Medi-Cal is financed equally by the state and federal government.
Medicare fraud is an issue that the government is trying to address with a series of crackdowns. Medicare fraud is purposefully billing Medicare for services that were never received or provided, or that were provided by not medically necessarily. The government developed the Medicare Fraud Strike force in order to combat Medicare fraud. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force is a multi-agency team of federal, state and local investigators designed to combat Medicare fraud through the use of Medicare data analysis techniques and an increased focus on community policing.
This current lawsuit settlement illustrates just how seriously the government handles Medicare fraud. For more information on Medicare fraud and abuse, please visit our Related Resources links.
Related Resources:
- Medicare Fraud Crackdown in Louisiana (FindLaw)
- College Hospital to pay $1.6 million in skid row dumping case (Los Angeles Times)
- Houston, We Have a Medicare Fraud Problem (FindLaw's Blotter)
- Federal Government Cracking Down on Medicare Fraud (FindLaw)
- Fraud (provided by Parkman, Adams & White, LLC)