Eight people were arrested and 15 were charged in an alleged scheme to bilk more than $50 million in healthcare funds by running sham hospice facilities across Southern California, federal officials announced Thursday. <\/p>\n
The defendants billed Medicare for reimbursement payments for hospice care for patients over several years, federal officials said, but many of those patients were not terminally ill. Federal officials who unsealed the charges Thursday described them as brazen efforts to commit fraud at several facilities across the region. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis happens entirely too much, particularly in Los Angeles County,\u201d said First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli. \u201cWe are making fraud a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federal officials arrested eight people on various fraud charges in a crackdown dubbed \u201cOperation Never Say Die.\u201d Though the cases were not connected, officials said they adopted similar ways to defraud the medical system. <\/p>\n
Some of the defendants were also medical care providers, Essayli pointed out, including three nurses, a chiropractor and a psychologist. <\/p>\n
The defendants operated facilities in Covina, Anaheim, Glendale and Lakewood. Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI\u2019s Los Angeles office, said Southern California was rife with hospice fraud.<\/p>\n
Instead of using the money to provide hospice care for legitimately dying patients, Davis alleged, the suspects used it for international travel, to pay mortgages and car loans and to send money overseas. <\/p>\n
\u201cFraud historically does not get the attention it deserves, so I\u2019m glad to see a national spotlight on this pervasive problem,\u201d Davis said. <\/p>\n
Amelou Gill and his wife, Gladwin, who operate St. Francis Palliative Care in Glendale, were arrested at their Covina home by an FBI SWAT team. <\/p>\n
Although the facility was meant to care for the dying, its patient mortality rate was about 2.3% during the last five years, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS. <\/p>\n
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the CMS administrator, told The Times earlier this year that such low mortality rates were one of the clearest signs of a hospice that isn\u2019t truly providing for those at the end of their lives. <\/p>\n
Oz and Essayli were present at the Covina arrests. <\/p>\n
In another case, Lolita Beronilla Minerd, 65, a licensed vocational nurse from Anaheim, operated Topanga Hospice Care Inc. in Artesia and allegedly submitted more than $9 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, which paid more than $8.5 million of those claims, according to investigators. <\/p>\n
Several of the people who were listed as terminally ill beneficiaries for the claims allegedly had common addresses. <\/p>\n
Minerd is also accused of paying kickbacks to beneficiaries in exchange for being able to list them as patients, according to investigators. <\/p>\n
One couple, allegedly approached at a supermarket, was told by Minerd they could receive $300 a month each and receive nutritional shakes, nonprescription vitamins and wheelchairs, Essayli said. They were not terminally ill, he said.<\/p>\n
The facility, Essayli said, had a non-death discharge rate of about 85%, nearly five times the national average. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you go to hospice you\u2019re going there to die,\u201d Essayli said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have an 85% survival rate.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another case, Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, 76, and her husband, Adolfo Catbagan, 68, are accused of operating three fraudulent hospice care facilities, including one that was operating while Palma was free on bond in another hospice fraud case. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is how egregious and bold some of these fraudsters are,\u201d Essayli said.<\/p>\n
The couple are accused of submitting at least $4.8 million in fraudulent claims between 2022 and 2024, even though they were barred from operating a hospice. <\/p>\n
In announcing the criminal operation and the federal charges, Essayli and Oz also took aim at political opponents, particularly California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the administration of former President Biden. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just a fraud problem, this is a California problem and the federal government is the purse,\u201d Essayli said during the news conference. \u201cI call California the kingdom of fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Essayli accused the state of doing no vetting or checking when administering hospice licenses. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey do not care because it\u2019s not their money,\u201d Essayli said. <\/p>\n
However, the state did adopt a moratorium on issuing new hospice licenses, which came after a Los Angeles Times investigation and a state audit. It was recently extended until January 2027<\/a> after the state missed its deadline to enact new emergency regulations for hospices. <\/p>\n Oz, who earlier this year was criticized after posting a video accusing Armenian <\/a>crime groups of carrying out widespread fraud, continued Thursday to accuse California and Los Angeles officials of not doing enough to combat fraud. <\/p>\n \u201cWhy would one-third of hospices in the whole country be just in Los Angeles County?\u201d Oz said. \u201cYou should be incredulous. We are.\u201d<\/p>\n In 10 weeks, Oz said, federal officials had taken down 221 hospice facilities in the area.<\/p>\n In a series of posts on X, Newsom appeared to respond to the criticism. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump Administration \u2014 home to the biggest fraudsters on Earth \u2014 is trying to blame California for issues with THEIR federal program,\u201d Newsom posted<\/a> in response to a comment by Vice President JD Vance on the federal operation. \u201cGlad to see the Feds finally taking seriously the fraud in the programs they themselves manage … only 15 months after Trump took office.\u201d<\/p>\n