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| Eileen Decker, US Attorney |
Emily Mongan, Staff Writer
A California physician who falsely certified more than
70 patients as terminally ill in order to refer them for hospice care
was sentenced to four years in federal prison last week. He will also
pay $1.3 million in restitution.
Boyao Huang, 43, is one of two physicians convicted as part
of a $8.8 million fraud scheme operated by Covina Hospice Care of
Covina, CA. Huang and the second doctor, Sri Wijegoonaratna, 61,
conducted “assessments” for patients and certified them as terminally
ill, regardless of the assessment's outcome.
At least 79 Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries were deemed
terminally ill and referred to CHC, “even though the vast majority of
them were not dying,” the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central
District of California said in a press release.
"This scheme preyed upon dozens of patients and their
families who were led to believe that their worst nightmare had come
true — that they had life-ending illnesses,” U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker
said in the statement.