Eight individuals have been arrested in California for their involvement in a massive $50 million hospice fraud scheme, highlighting the ongoing efforts to combat healthcare fraud and protect Medicare funds.
Key Points
- The FBI arrested eight people in California for allegedly defrauding the healthcare system of over $50 million through sham hospice facilities.
- The suspects are accused of billing Medicare for hospice care using individuals who were not terminally ill.
- Investigators became suspicious due to the high survival rates at the hospice facilities, which were five times the national average.
- Those arrested include doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who allegedly submitted fraudulent claims and paid illegal kickbacks.
- The FBI emphasizes that healthcare fraud costs the United States hundreds of billions of dollars annually, impacting taxpayers and healthcare benefits.
The FBI has arrested eight persons in California for allegedly defrauding the national healthcare system for more than USD 50 million by running "sham hospice care facilities".
The FBI action was undertaken in coordination with the Vice President J D Vance-led Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, constituted by US President Donald Trump last week.
At a news conference on Thursday morning, Acting US Attorney Bill Essayli said the eight defendants, including three nurses, a chiropractor and a psychologist, are charged with defrauding the healthcare system out of more than USD 50 million.
Essayli said the individuals are accused of running fraudulent hospice care facilities that billed Medicare by using people without terminal illnesses as beneficiaries.
Essayli said the high survival rate at the hospices set of the alarm bells ringing for investigators to focus on these facilities.
"When you go to a hospice, you go there to die. You are not supposed to have a high survival rate coming out of your hospice facility which is five times more than the national average of 17 per cent," Essayli said.
Details of the Hospice Fraud Scheme
According to the FBI, among those arrested were Gladwin and Amelou Gill, a doctor and psychologist who co-own 626 Hospice, which does business as St Francis Palliative Care.
The couple is charged with fraud and court documents say they allegedly defrauded Medicare by paying illegal kickbacks for the referral of patients who were not dying.
The couple also allegedly submitted more than USD 5.2 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services that were not provided or medically necessary. Medicare paid the Gills more than USD 4 million on the fraudulent claims.
Also charged with healthcare fraud is Lolita Beronilla Minerd, a licensed vocational nurse from Anaheim, who owned and operated the Artesia-based Topanga Hospice Care Inc. She is accused of using her business to submit fraudulent hospice claims to Medicare totalling more than USD 9 million, which paid more than USD 8 million on those claims.
Sonia Griffen was arrested from Lakewood and is charged in a five-count indictment for healthcare fraud.
Gregory Cartmell, 62, of Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, a licensed chiropractor, was arrested Thursday on a four-count indictment charging him with two counts of healthcare fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Ivan Verne Lauritzen, 50, of Simi Valley, was arrested Tuesday on a federal criminal complaint charging him with healthcare fraud. According to court documents, Lauritzen was the CEO and CFO of the Simi Valley-based Valley Pacific Hospice Inc, whose Medicare enrollment was revoked in August 2024.
Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, a thrice-convicted healthcare fraud who is currently incarcerated at a federal prison in Seattle, is accused of working with her husband, Adolfo Catbagan, from Glendale, to operate at least three fraudulent hospice care facilities.
Palma and Catbagan are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and healthcare irregularities.
Impact of Healthcare Fraud
"The Southern California region is a high-risk environment for hospice-related and many other forms of healthcare fraud," said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's LA Field Office.
"The United States loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually to healthcare fraud at the expense of all American taxpayers, whose benefits decrease as premiums, co-payments and taxes grow," he said.
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