Medicare Fraud Case Targets Sherman Oaks Firm, Among Others

The Sherman Oaks medical firm involved in this case is Gana Medical Supply, and the owner, Zama Tamamian, is currently a fugitive, according to this report from City News Service.

Two doctors and four other people were charged Wednesday in alleged schemes to siphon nearly $11 million from Medicare, federal prosecutors said.

In the first of four cases filed in Los Angeles federal court, Dr. Byung
Ho Pak, 71, of Orange, and 48-year-old Mary Lim, of Desert Hot Springs, were charged in an indictment for their alleged roles in a Medicare fraud scheme involving fraudulent billing for physical therapy, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Instead of providing physical therapy, the indictment alleges that
patients received non-covered services such as acupuncture, acupressure and moxibustion—the burning of mugwort on the skin in an effort to improve circulation.

Prosecutors contend Pak and Lim, who managed Pak's Seoul East West Medical Center in Garden Grove, submitted about $2 million in claims to Medicare for services not provided. Medicare paid more than $1.4 million, according to the indictment.

In another case filed in Los Angeles, Crenshaw-area Dr. Owusu Firempong, 60, was charged with submitting nearly $1.3 million in claims to Medicare for diagnostic tests that were not performed or were medically unnecessary, such as nerve conduction tests and sleep studies. Firempong allegedly submitted the bogus claims and was paid more than $780,000 by Medicare after he was evicted from his Los Angeles and Fountain Valley medical clinics, according to the indictment.

George Hakopian of Tujunga and Yervand Khachatryan of Glendale, the 54-year-old co-owners of Mid-Valley Medical Supply, a Van Nuys medical supply company, are accused of billing more than $4.8 million in claims for power wheelchairs and other equipment that were not needed or never provided, prosecutors said.

The fraud allegedly included claims on behalf of dead people and the
parents of some Mid-Valley employees. Hakopian and Khachatryan are also charged with laundering nearly $1 million in proceeds from the alleged fraud. Khachatryan is being sought by federal authorities, prosecutors said.

In the fourth case filed in Los Angeles, 49-year-old Zina Tamamian of
North Hollywood was charged with submitting about $2.9 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for medical equipment, most of which was never provided to patients, prosecutors said.

A seven-count indictment alleges that Medicare lost nearly $2.1
million when it paid false claims for equipment submitted through Tamamian's company, Gana Medical Supply in Sherman Oaks. Tamamian is also currently a fugitive, according to federal prosecutors.

"The FBI and its Strike Force partners are focused on identifying those
who profit from Medicare fraud," said Steven Martinez, assistant director in charge of the FBI office in Los Angeles.

"Criminals are responsible for billing and fraudulently receiving
millions of taxpayer dollars every year for services never performed and products never delivered," he said. "We are committed to eradicating these schemes that cost so much and compromise the care that legitimate Medicare beneficiaries are entitled to receive."

—City News Service