8 Accused of Filing False Medi-Cal Claims
Eight people accused of billing $1.9 million in false Medi-Cal claims were arrested after a nearly two-year investigation, officials said Thursday.
The Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud said it found that two Long Beach clinics, operated by the same people, hired assistants to produce false patient charts.
Arrested Wednesday were Dr. John Kim, Dr. Jose Ballesteros , Setha Hy, Jennie Chin, Rong Mean, Dennisa Preap, Map Di and Mealea Di. All are Long Beach residents except Mean, who lives in Signal Hill, officials said.
The investigation showed that Hy and Chin operated two Long Beach medical clinics under four names: Nation Care Medical Clinic, Superb Medical Clinic, Medical Clinic of Long Beach and Wallace Medical Clinic. Hy and Chin allegedly hired medical assistants to produce false patient charts, and Kim and Ballesteros allegedly signed the charts, making it appear that the patients were legitimate, the state attorney general’s office said.
The investigation showed that Medi-Cal paid Hy and Chin’s medical clinics $1.9 million between January 1995 and April 1997 for services.
All of the suspects are in custody at the Long Beach jail awaiting arraignment today in Municipal Court.
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