Federal Authorities Seize Property of Ambulance Operators in Connection With Medicare Fraud Case
Federal authorities have seized property belonging to the owners of the Los Angeles-based ambulance company Greybor Medical Transportation in connection with Medicare fraud charges filed last year, the AP/Fresno Bee reports. Prosecutors are seeking more than $12 million in damages from the operators of the company for allegedly filing more than $4 million in fraudulent Medicare claims during a four-year period, according to a civil action unsealed Friday (AP/Fresno Bee, 4/6). In June 2002, federal authorities arrested and indicted Gregory Plotkin and Boris Shpirt, Greybor Medical Transportation's owners, and Daniel Gonzalez, a Greybor employee, for falsifying claims to Medicare from 1998 to 2000. The 26-count indictment against Greybor alleged that the company:
- Falsely claimed that patients were "bed-confined," a requirement for Medicare reimbursement;
- Transported several patients at the same time but submitted claims to Medicare that said they were transported separately; and
- Falsely claimed that some patients were transported to receive dialysis treatment, a service reimbursed by Medicare (California Healthline, 6/5/02).