Pasadena Doctor Convicted In Fraud Scheme

A Pasadena doctor was found guilty Thursday of federal health care fraud charges for falsely certifying that Medicare patients were terminally ill and therefore qualified for hospice care, when the vast majority of them were not actually dying.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said Boyao Huang, 43, who practiced family medicine in Pasadena, was convicted by a federal jury of participating in a scheme related to the Covina-based California Hospice Care (CHC).

Between March 2009 and June 2013, CHC submitted approximately $8.8 million in fraudulent bills to Medicare and Medi-Cal for hospice-related services, and the public health programs paid nearly $7.4 million to CHC.

Convicted with Huang was another doctor, Sri Wijegoonaratna of Anaheim. Together, the two doctors were found guilty of collecting more than $8 million in fraudulent insurance payments and kickbacks in the elaborate health care fraud scheme.

United States District Judge S. James Otero, who presided over the trial, is scheduled to sentence the two defendants on August 15, 2016. Huang could face up to 40 years behind bars for four counts of fraud, and Wijegoonaratna faces up to 70 years in prison. Each count of health care fraud is equivalent to a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said the doctors acted in concert with CHC when they falsely stated that patients were ill in order to bill Medical and Medi-Care for hospice services that were not necessary.

“A number of patients admitted to California Hospice Care testified at trial, showing that they did not require end-of-life care,” Decker said in a Justice Department press release. “In fact, only a small percentage of patients later died – notwithstanding the two doctors declaring that they needed hospice care.”

Decker said the scheme is one of many that has victimized public health care programs and, in the end, the taxpayers who fund these important programs.

“We will continue to investigate these fraudulent schemes, shut down the operations and incarcerate those responsible for stealing from the system,” Decker said.

Four other defendants who were named in a federal grand jury indictment in September 2014 have pleaded guilty to health care fraud charges and are pending sentencing.

The investigation into California Hospice was conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the California Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse; and IRS Criminal Investigation.