4
Oct

Six more medical providers have been suspended from operating in the state workers’ comp system by the California Division of Workers’ Compensation. These new suspensions bring the total suspended medical providers to thirty-eight. These suspensions stem from last year’s Assembly Bill 1244, which took major steps to reduce fraud in the workers’ comp system. The bill compelled the California Division of Workers’ Compensation to suspend medical providers who are convicted of “a felony or misdemeanor involving fraud or abuse of any patient, the Medi-Cal or Medicare programs, or the workers’ compensation system itself” (CA Department of Industrial Relations). In addition, the bill created a hearing process for the suspension and a special adjudication procedure to deal with pending liens of providers who have been suspended based on a criminal conviction.

The California Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) Acting Administrative Director, George Parisotto, ordered suspensions against the following medical providers:

• Medical clinic operator Simon Hong of Brea, found guilty on October 19, 2016 by a federal jury in Orange County for 19 different counts of identity theft, illegal kickbacks, and health care fraud in the Medicare program
• Physician assistant Rafael U. Chavez of Rancho Cucamonga, for the revocation of his certification by the PA Board of California on June 19, 2014
• Co-founders of Aspen Medical Resources and the MRI facilities Elite Management, Elite Diagnostics, and Regional Medical Services, Landen Mirallegro and Jeffrey Campau of Yorba Linda, convicted by the Orange County Superior Court on May 5, 2017 for medical insurance fraud as part of an overbilling scheme where they defrauded insurance companies more than $70 million
• Physician and surgeon Chi Hong Yang of San Gabriel, convicted by Kern County Superior Court for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud on August 2, 2013
• Physician assistant Wendell Wenneker of Napa, for the revocation of his certification by the Medical Board of California on June 2, 2017