LOS ANGELES – A North Hollywood woman who worked in the health care industry was sentenced Monday to six years and four months in federal prison for concocting a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare of nearly $25 million for services and supplies that were unnecessary and sometimes were never provided, officials said.
Susanna Artsruni made than $24.8 million in fraudulent claims; Medicare paid more than $9.6 million on the bogus bills.
Artsruni, 46, formerly owned a Durable Medical Equipment company and worked at a number of medical clinics in Los Angeles.
Artsruni, who often used the names “Mary” and “Rose,” plead guilty earlier this year to one count of health care fraud and one count of money laundering.
Judge Margaret M. Morrow also ordered Artsruni to pay $9.6 million as restitution to the Medicare program.
Artsruni admitted in court papers that she defrauded Medicare in a number of ways including that she had physician’s assistants at three Los Angeles medical clinics sign prescriptions and orders for medically unnecessary tests. She also had three clinics bill Medicare for unnecessary services.
Artsruni fraudulently billed Medicare on behalf of her own Durable Medical Equipment supply company and Midvalley Medical Supply in Van Nuys.
A second defendant in the case, Erasmus Kotey, a physician’s assistant who worked with Artsruni in a medical clinic on North Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, has pleaded guilty.
Kotey will be sentenced in September.
Charges also have been filed against three others in connection with the money laundering and health care fraud schemes. The three defendants in this case have pleaded not guilty. Their trial is set for 2015.