LA Clinic Owner, Doctors Charged In Medicare Scam
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two doctors and a clinic owner have been charged in Los Angeles with a multi-million-dollar scheme to recruit mentally ill homeless patients for unnecessary treatments.
The city attorney's office has also charged another four clinic employees in the scam that bilked Medicare and Medi-Cal out of $5 million.
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Prosecutors say patients were brought in to RSB Medical Group for abdominal ultrasounds and received $100. The clinic allegedly charged the federal programs up to $1,000 per doctor for between 30 and 50 patients daily from December 2009 and June.
Drs. Rodney Barron and Eleanor Arthur were arrested Friday and are being held on $500,000 bail.
Clinic owner Artur Vic Manasarian and the others are charged with conspiracy and taking illegal kickbacks.
A message left at the clinic was not immediately returned.
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