{"id":8210,"date":"2014-12-22T17:00:17","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T01:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8210"},"modified":"2014-12-22T17:01:10","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T01:01:10","slug":"mastermind-9-million-health-care-scam-arraigned-new-federal-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=8210","title":{"rendered":"Mastermind of a $9 Million Health Care Scam Arraigned on New Federal Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong> \u2013 A Placentia woman already serving a prison sentence for defrauding Medi-Cal is \"u.s.DISTRICT<\/a>expected to be arraigned on new federal charges related to her operation of a hospice that submitted millions of dollars in fraudulent bills to Medicare and Medi-Cal for allegedly providing end-of-life care to patients who were, in fact, not dying, officials said.<\/p>\n

Priscilla Villabroza,<\/strong> 68, has been transferred from a federal prison in Victorville and is expected to be arraigned on a 25-count indictment this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Villabroza is one of six defendants charged in relation to the scheme allegedly run out of the Covina-based California Hospice Care, which Villabroza purchased in late 2007 while under investigation in the earlier case that later sent her to prison for 4\u00bd years.<\/p>\n

Between March 2009 and June 2013, officials said California Hospice<\/strong> submitted nearly $9 million in fraudulent bills to Medicare and Medi-Cal for hospice-related services, and the public health programs paid nearly $7.5 million.<\/p>\n

According to the indictment, the fraud at California Hospice involved Villabroza and her daughter paying patient recruiters known as \u201cmarketers\u201d or \u201ccappers\u201d to bring in Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

As part of the scheme, registered nurses at the facility performed \u201cassessments\u201d to determine whether the beneficiary was terminally ill and, regardless of the outcome, two doctors at the hospice certified that the beneficiary was terminally ill \u2013 even though the vast majority of them were not dying.<\/p>\n

Personnel at California Hospice allegedly altered medical records in response to Medicare audits to make the beneficiaries appear sicker.<\/p>\n

Medicare and Medi-Cal paid millions of dollars for medically unnecessary hospice-related services.<\/p>\n

On December 17, the other five defendants were taken into custody and were arraigned on the indictment. They are:<\/p>\n