The owner of a California hospital got a 15-month prison sentence for his role in a long-running scheme in which he paid over $30 million in kickbacks to doctors who steered patients to his facility, the Department of Justice said.
Faustino Bernadett used sham contracts to conceal kickback payments to doctors, chiropractors, and marketers who referred thousands of patients for spinal surgeries and other medical services, the DOJ said in a statement released Friday.
The scheme resulted in $900 million in fraudulent bills being submitted, primarily to the California workers’ compensation system, it said.
The scheme centered on Pacific Hospital ...