Authorities Bust L.A.-Based Insurance Fraud Operation
Last week, investigators charged 14 individuals, including two physicians, with operating a Los Angeles-based scheme to illegally obtain prescription medication. The indictment also states that Los Angeles-based Lake Medical Group improperly billed Medicare and Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, for $6 million worth of services that were unnecessary or never performed. Authorities said that the scheme was in operation between August 2008 and February 2010 and that the clinic used "cappers" to recruit patients who were given a prescription for the painkiller OxyContin, which typically costs $6 per pill. After the prescriptions were filled, they were sold on the black market for about $25 apiece. The indictment also accuses some defendants of using patients' identities and Medicare information to obtain OxyContin.
- "Feds: LA OxyContin Ring Used Medicare" (United Press International, 9/13).
- "14 Charged in Medicare Scam in LA" (Risling, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 10/13).
- "14 People Accused in OxyContin Insurance Fraud Scheme" (Sewell, "L.A. Now," Los Angeles Times, 10/13).