Federal authorities arrested five individuals connected to San Fernando Valley clinics and a significant health care fraud scheme. On May 22, a federal grand jury indictment was unsealed. The indictment alleges that the five individuals engaged in a health care fraud conspiracy over multiple years and targeted at least eight…
One of the ways in which physicians and other health care professionals commit fraud against the federal government is through accepting or providing illegal payments or gifts to generate certain business. This type of scheme is also known as kickbacks. One of the most common kickback schemes associated with this…
On April 13, the U.S. intervened in five lawsuits against Insys Therapeutics Inc., which all accuse the company of violating the False Claims Act in regard to its opioid painkiller, Subsys. The painkiller is a sublingual spray form of fentanyl, an extremely potent and addictive drug. Fentanyl has made the…
The sentencing of a physician convicted of health care fraud was continued in March. Paul Matthew Bolger, 46, will not be sentenced until May 22 for committing health care fraud. In August 2017, he pleaded guilty to 18 counts of making false claims related to health care and five counts…
On January 12, the former owner of Pacific Hospital in Long Beach, California was sentenced to 63 months in prison. The owner, Michael D. Drobot, 73, was charged with crimes related to running a 15-year health care fraud scheme. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and paying illegal kickbacks…
One of the many ways that patients are at the mercy of their health care providers and insurers is through pharmaceuticals and prescriptions. Doctors write specific prescriptions, sometimes based on pharmaceutical advertisements, that may require that patients receive name brand drugs. Insurers place limitations on the types of drugs that…