Summary
Federal officials in Los Angeles have created a new prosecutorial unit that will focus on health care fraud, particularly Medicare-related fraud, augmenting efforts at a crackdown by other federal departments. A number of high-profile cases have surfaced recently in California, which is said to be a major center for scams and fraud against the government.
Original source:
http://www.labusinessjournal.com/article.asp?aID=92842262.5801639.1106339.6534714.7376872.012&aID2=85094
Details
For five years a Long Beach company called Pacific Care Medical Supply billed the government's Medicare program for power wheelchairs, hospital beds and other medical supplies for elderly patients.
But there was a problem: Most of the time physicians never ordered the equipment, and patients never received it, according to government prosecutors.
The alleged $2.4 million scam qualifies as garden variety for Southern California, which federal officials have labeled as one of the top two regions for health care fraud in the nation.
Now the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles has established a unit that will focus on prosecuting health care fraud, joining in a crackdown already under way by other agencies.
"We could double or triple the number of prosecutors on this, and we would still be understaffed," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Consuelo Woodhead, who is heading the three-attorney unit.
"We talk to people who say they have been in the health care fraud business for a decade."
Atim Okorn, a 49-year-old Chino resident who owns Pacific Care, is the first to be prosecuted under the crackdown.
He was arrested earlier this month on Medicare fraud and is being held without bail.
His arrest follows a number of high-profile health care fraud investigations conducted in Southern California by the FBI, the Office of the Inspector General of the Health and Human Services Agency and other state and federal investigators.
They include the October indictment of the owners and employees of a Santa Ana surgery center who are accused of inducing patients from around the country to have unnecessary surgeries in exchange for cash and vouchers for plastic surgery.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, and he has authored and published several downloadable personal preparedness courses including a downloadable course focused on safety and self defense. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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Monday, March 07, 2005
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