A former Van Nuys doctor who recently assigned his medical license After accusations of sexual harassment, agreed with a federal regulation of $ 15 million on allegations that he and his defendant colleagues have submitted false complaints to Medicare and Medi-Cal.
The American Ministry of Justice accused Mohammad Rasekhi, his spouse and trading partner, Sheila Busheri, the medical center he founded and a laboratory that he was a co-owner of engaging in a number of plans to fraud Medicare and Medicaid of 2014-22, said the American prosecutor's office this week.
Rasekhi was the founder and chief doctor of Southern California Medical Center, a group of general practice clinics with locations in El Monte, Van Nuys, Pico Rivera, Woodland Hills, Pomona and Long Beach. He and Busheri also co -owner Universal Diagnostic Laboratories, a medical test establishment based in Van Nuys.
Busheri, who is CEO of SCMC, said the pair denies all allegations. However, “due to the high cost of disputes and the issuance of a suspension of paralyzing payment, fighting allegations aimed at proving the absence of reprehensible acts has meant the closure of the doors of SCMC, effectively denying the care to thousands of poorly served patients,” she said in a written declaration. “In this spirit, a commercial decision was made to resolve the question.”
A lawyer who represented Rasekhi in the surrender of his medical license did not immediately return any requests for comments.
According to the settlement agreement, Rasekhi, Busheri and their businesses have paid illegal marketing specialists to refer patients at Medicare and Medi-Cal at the CMC clinics. They gave illegal advantages and payments of external medical clinics so that they refer patients supported by the federal government to the UDL for laboratory tests, said the agreement, and returned the SCMC patients who received Medicare and Medi-Cal benefits for tests, in violation of federal laws against self-references.
“Programs of bribes and self-defense to risk harming the judgment of health care providers and to reduce the reliability of the care they return”, Brian Mr. Boynton, head of the civil division of the Ministry of Justice, said in a press release. “The beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid deserve care which are free from the defilement of the references which have been motivated by the financial interest of the providers.”
Below Regulation conditionsDefenders will pay $ 10 million to the government and $ 5 million to a group of former staff members SCMC and UDL who have taken action against their former employers.
California will be reimbursed for $ 7 million for Medi-Cal complaints related to the prosecution, said the American prosecutor's office.
Rasekhi made her medical license earlier this month, weeks after the California medical advice filed an accusation Against him detailing the allegations according to which he sexually abused three women under his care.
His lawyer said Rasekhi had denied all the allegations and had chosen to give up his rights over a hearing and withdraw from medicine rather than challenging the accusations.
