Intercare Health Systems, formerly the City of Angels Medical Center, will pay a $10 million consent judgment stemming from an alleged Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud scheme in Los Angeles.
The consent judgment, which the state of California also joined, straightens out a civil lawsuit filed against Intercare in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Also named in the lawsuit were the former owners of Intercare, Robert Bourseau and Rudra Sabaratnam, who had signed two separate $10 million consent judgments in January 2010. The United States is entitled to $10 million as a result of the three joint and several consent judgments
The government alleged that City of Angels Medical Center paid "recruiters" employed at homeless shelters in the skid row area of Los Angeles to deliver homeless clients by ambulance to the hospital for medical treatment regardless of whether they needed or requested treatment. The medical center would then bill the Medicare and Medi-Cal programs for a variety of medical services supposedly offered.
"Performing unnecessary medical services on homeless people who are struggling to survive is particularly egregious and will not be tolerated," said Tony West, assistant attorney general of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. "Companies, institutions and individuals will be held accountable for fraudulent conduct that takes money from taxpayers and undermines the integrity of the healthcare system."