Doctors Face Charges In $22 Million Urine Test Billing Scheme
Orange Country Deputy District Attorney Hope Callahan said that among the potential victims in the alleged scheme were sober living residents going through a vulnerable time in their lives.
Orange County Register:
O.C. District Attorney Charges Family, Doctors With Insurance Fraud Related To Sober Living Homes, Urine Tests
The owners of a string of Southern California sober living homes and two medical doctors are facing insurance fraud charges tied to what authorities allege was a $22 million urine test billing scheme, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday. Six people were charged last week with a variety of felonies – including medical fraud, insurance fraud and money laundering – in connection to the suspected scheme involving recruited sober living residents and alleged front companies that are accused of persuading insurance carriers to pay for unneeded or non-existent urine tests. (Harmonson and Emery, 5/23)
In other news from across the state —
KQED:
Valero Outage Prompts Benicia To Consider Industrial Safety Ordinance
City officials would have greater oversight over the Valero refinery under a proposal set to be unveiled at the Benicia City Council meeting on Tuesday—a potential reform prompted by the major outage at the facility earlier this month. Mayor Elizabeth Patterson is proposing the city develop regulations similar to those in Contra Costa County, home to several refineries. That county’s industrial safety ordinance, considered to be one of the strongest in the country, requires oil refining facilities to undergo safety audits and have risk management plans. (Goldberg, 5/23)