A top hospital official and the operator of a homeless facility face federal Medicare fraud charges for their alleged involvement in an elaborate plan to recruit homeless individuals for unnecessary health-care treatment and then bill the government for it.Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Wednesday arrested Rudra Sabaratnam, chief executive of City of Angels hospital, and Estill Mitts, operator of a homeless assessment center in Los Angeles's downtown "Skid Row," for conspiring to persuade homeless people to act as patients in an attempt to fill beds, according to the U.S. attorney's office here.
"Individuals who saw a great deal of money were trying to line their pockets illegally with millions of dollars that were intended to go to the elderly and the sick," said U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien. Mr. O'Brien said the investigation was ongoing and he expects other defendants to be indicted in the near future.
Lawyers for Messrs. Sabaratnam and Mitts couldn't be reached for comment.
At the same time, Medicare fraud whistleblowers have filed civil charges against three Southern California hospitals where search warrants were served Wednesday as well as against their chief executive officers and other alleged co-schemers, including an ambulance company.
Lured by the promise of money -- about $30 -- homeless individuals checked into hospitals, where they often received unnecessary and even potentially harmful diagnoses or treatments, according to the civil complaint. One homeless patient was given a nitroglycerin patch, which dropped her blood pressure to such levels that her life was imperiled, said Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. As a result, Medicare and Medi-Cal, a joint federal and state program, were billed for the false services and provided the hospitals with compensation.
Los Angeles's sizable homeless population has been the subject of controversy in recent years, as some hospitals have been charged with dumping their discharged patients onto the streets of Skid Row. A new city ordinance, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, makes it a misdemeanor for health facilities to transport a patient to a place other than his or her residence without written consent.
This investigation began as a result of a videotape by Los Angeles Police Department officers who noticed an ambulance dropping off five homeless people in downtown Los Angeles. One of those homeless individuals later came forth to reveal information about the alleged recruitment scheme.
"This is a shameless exploitation of the homeless population," said Mr. Delgadillo. "Skid Row has served as a cloak of chaos. But we're peeling back the onion and sending the message to these charlatans that the city and our residents do care about those who are in the most vulnerable situation in L.A."
By: Amy Kaufman
Wall Street Journal; August 7, 2008
