A Ventura County, California, physician has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for Medicare fraud for medically unnecessary hospice services.
Dr. Victor Contreras worked for two hospices in Pasadena California — Arcadia Hospice Provider Inc., and Saint Mariam Hospice Inc. The owner of those companies, Jaunita Antenor, is a co-defendant in the case.
“Contreras falsely stated on claims forms that patients had terminal illnesses to make them eligible for hospice services covered by Medicare, typically adopting diagnoses provided to him by hospice employees whether or not they were true,” the U.S. Justice Department indicated. “Contreras did so even though he was not the patients’ primary care physician and had not spoken to those primary care physicians about the patients’ conditions.”…