Medi Cal

Darleene Barrientos A former Glendale resident accused of running a medical laboratory that submitted fraudulent bills to Medicare and Medi-Cal will be sentenced Feb. 2 as part of a plea bargain. Ernesto Penaflorida, 57, was extradited from the Philippines to face U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew, and Monday pleaded guilty to sending bills to state medical agencies for services that were never performed. Penaflorida admitted he and several others associated with his former Glendale-based company, Medstat Clinical Laboratory, sought payment for blood tests they never performed and did not have the equipment to perform.

Robert Shaffer GLENDALE -- A broad investigation into Medi--Cal fraud in the Los Angeles area has led to the arrest of at least one Glendale man, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Sacramento said. Charges have been filed against 64 business, most in the San Fernando Valley, accusing them of defrauding California's health-care system for the poor. The Glendale man charged was Artur Stepanyan of Adams Square Pharmacy. He was charged Aug. 5 with defrauding Medi-Cal of 80,000, said Patty Pontello, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office.

Alex Coolman GLENDALE -- The medical group named in a lawsuit alleging fraudulent Medi-Cal billings at Glendale Adventist Medical Center has paid $250,000 to settle the case. The Perinatal Medical Group was named by Dr. Caroline Pieszak, who was a resident in the obstetrics/gynecology program at Glendale Adventist in 1995 and 1996. Pieszak charged that the group and the hospital routinely overbilled Medi-Cal for deliveries during that time. Simple procedures conducted by residents were reported as having been performed by licensed doctors, Pieszak's suit alleged.

Alecia Foster GLENDALE -- The owners of an adult health care center have pleaded not guilty to charges of grand theft, conspiracy to defraud the Medi-Cal system and submitting false Medi-Cal claims. Ellen Zuzo and Gary I. Dubin, owners of the Happy Days Adult Day Health Care, both made their plea during an arraigned Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Zuzo and Dubin's arrest came after a months-long investigation by Atty. General Bill Lockyer's office.

Darleene Barrientos Three Glendale doctors were among seven people charged Thursday in a Medi- Cal fraud scheme that bilked $500,000 from the state, authorities said. Armen Kazanchian, 46, Noune Pashinian, 41, and Vahan Madatovian, 46, are each charged with one count of grand theft with special allegations, eight counts of Medi-Cal fraud, seven counts of identity theft and two counts of money laundering, said Collin Wong, director of the state bureau of Medi-Cal fraud and elder abuse.

It came down to the wire, but Daylight Adult Day Health Care Center in Glendale will remain open and continue serving hundreds of low-income clients after its network reached a settlement with the state over Medi-Cal payments. Without the settlement - reached after advocates for the disabled and elderly filed a court motion this summer seeking to prevent planned funding cuts - Daylight and other centers that are part of the state's Adult Day Health Care program would have closed on Dec. 1 because they would no longer have been eligible for Medi-Cal benefits.

Ryan Carter Dentist Jerry Lanier is locked up. And so are other dentists, he said, thanks to recent state cuts to Medi-Cal. Lanier is protesting cuts in Medi-Cal and Denti-Cal reimbursements that he said will ultimately hurt the low-income families he serves in Glendale, Hollywood and surrounding areas. So, beginning Wednesday, he imprisoned himself in front of his main office in Hollywood's Little Armenia, in a yellow cage with signs all around the front yard of Kids Dental Kare.

Darleene Barrientos Glendale Unified School District officials are defending billing the state for some services they provide after a couple of Glendale parents complained about the practice. The district bills Medi-Cal for services like mental health evaluation, health education and hearing assessments. A detailed report about the Local Education Agency/Medi-Cal Billing Option program will be presented Tuesday during the Glendale Unified School District's board meeting.

Darleene Barrientos Lights that were never supposed to go dark at Glenoaks Convalescent Hospital were off Wednesday for 15 minutes. The outage was no accident. The administrators, staff and residents of the hospital were trying to demonstrate the effects it would have on hundreds of nursing homes across California -- such as imminent closure -- if proposed state budget cuts to Medi-Cal are made law. Several of the hospital's wheelchair-bound residents rolled outside, wanting to participate in the demonstration.

GLENDALE — Local pharmacists who had praised a recent court order to reinstate state-sponsored slashes for Medi-Cal prescription drug payments are reeling after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to revoke a temporary injunction. The three-judge panel on the appeals court ruled July 11 that 10% cuts in payments for prescription drugs dispensed under Medi-Cal would have caused “serious irreparable injury” to beneficiaries of the program, which provides health care to low-income families and individuals throughout the state.

It came down to the wire, but Daylight Adult Day Health Care Center in Glendale will remain open and continue serving hundreds of low-income clients after its network reached a settlement with the state over Medi-Cal payments. Without the settlement - reached after advocates for the disabled and elderly filed a court motion this summer seeking to prevent planned funding cuts - Daylight and other centers that are part of the state's Adult Day Health Care program would have closed on Dec. 1 because they would no longer have been eligible for Medi-Cal benefits.

Fifteen people were arrested Thursday on suspicion of taking part in an elaborate $18-million Medicare fraud scheme that officials say involved a Glendale medical clinic and a pharmacy in San Marino. The scheme involved so-called “prescription harvesting,” in which Manor Medical Imaging Clinic and San Gabriel Valley pharmacies allegedly re-billed the government repeatedly for anti-psychotic medications, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday. A total of 17 people were named in the complaint.

GLENDALE ? Two Glendale residents were indicted Wednesday on charges that they allegedly billed more than $1.4 million in false claims to Medicare through fraudulent medical supply companies, officials said. The U.S. Attorney?s Office in Los Angeles charged Edgar Srapyan, 26, and Mariya Bagdasaryan, 54, with conspiracy to commit health-care fraud for allegedly submitting false claims for power wheelchairs and accessories to Medicare from October 2007 to December 2008. Bagdasaryan was arrested Wednesday morning, but authorities are still looking for Srapyan, according to the U.S. Attorney?

GLENDALE — Two Glendale residents were indicted Wednesday on charges that they allegedly billed more than $1.4 million in false claims to Medicare through fraudulent medical supply companies, officials said. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles charged Edgar Srapyan, 26, and Mariya Bagdasaryan, 54, with conspiracy to commit health care fraud for allegedly submitting false claims for power wheelchairs and accessories to Medicare from October 2007 to December 2008.

GLENDALE — Local pharmacists who had praised a recent court order to reinstate state-sponsored slashes for Medi-Cal prescription drug payments are reeling after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to revoke a temporary injunction. The three-judge panel on the appeals court ruled July 11 that 10% cuts in payments for prescription drugs dispensed under Medi-Cal would have caused “serious irreparable injury” to beneficiaries of the program, which provides health care to low-income families and individuals throughout the state.

GLENDALE — Just three days into the new fiscal year, 6.6 million beneficiaries of California’s Medi-Cal program — and the pharmacists who serve them — are beginning to feel the brunt of the state’s unbalanced budget as a portion of prescription drug payments usually reimbursed by the state are starting to be withheld in the face of California’s $17.2 billion deficit. The 10% cut to Medi-Cal, which provides health care to low-income families and individuals throughout the state, was signed into law in February by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who cited the state’s dwindling resources as a motivation for trimming the bloated budget.

After the state Assembly approved a $14-billion healthcare reform proposal on Dec. 17 and with the governor vowing to get to work in January on a funding plan that could support the measure, health officials are hopeful that 2008 is the year a deal goes through to overhaul the state’s system. But while healthcare industry players — from hospitals, physicians and nonprofit providers to lawmakers of both parties — largely agree the current system is broken, area officials are mixed over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’s bill that passed the Assembly two weeks ago. The plan would require all Californians, including the some 6 million Californians — or 20% of the population — who don’t have medical coverage to purchase some sort of health insurance.

GLENDALE — Shakeh Bogharian, administrator of Good Day Adult Health Care Center in Glendale, shared a piece of worrisome news with her patients on Tuesday morning — the lack of a state budget means the facility can't pay its bills. The community-based health care center is funded entirely by Medi-Cal, and with state budget talks at an impasse, that fund is on hold. "It's a financial crisis," Bogharian said. Good Day hopes to continue its daily service, which includes a mix of medical, therapeutic and social care for about 250 elderly patients, but with no budget resolution in sight, services could soon be cut, she said.