A doctor has pleaded not guilty to charges of bilking insurance companies by arranging unneeded surgeries with the cooperation of patients. Dr. Mamdouh Bahna, 58, who entered his plea in federal court, was taken into custody Jan. 1, Assistant U.S. Attorney Pegeen Rhyne said.
Bahna of Los Angeles and Dr. William W. Hampton, 50, of Cypress were named in an indictment, along with Bahna’s Bel Air Surgical Institute.
Prosecutors say Bahna hired workers to recruit people with health insurance to undergo unneeded surgery in exchange for cash or discounts on plastic surgeries. Payments allegedly ranged from $300 to $1,200 for such procedures as colonoscopies, sinus surgeries and an operation to stop palms from sweating.
According to the indictment, recruiters told the patients to describe false and exaggerated symptoms, which were then used to make the surgeries seem justified. Charges to insurance companies totaled at least $3.9 million, with $1.1 million paid out, Rhyne said.
Bahna is being held on $8 million bond and faces multiple counts of health care fraud, as well as conspiring to commit health care fraud. A status conference was set for Feb. 13
Hampton worked at the Bel Air Surgical Institute in West Los Angeles intermittently in 2003 and early 2004, and also worked at other offices in the area.
The case grew from a federal investigation of Southern California outpatient surgery centers that allegedly overbilled insurers for unnecessary surgeries.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Fraud Roundup
Roofer To Pay Calif. State Fund $117,000
A San Joaquin County, Calif., Superior Court Judge has ordered Lodi,Calif., resident Joseph C. Campbell, 39, to pay $117,000 in restitution to California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund, as a result of his conviction on felony workers’ compensation fraud.
The restitution order caps a workers’ compensation case that first surfaced in 1999, when Campbell, an employee of Stockton Roofing, filed a claim for a back injury. State Fund provided workers’ compensation coverage to Stockton Roofing. State Fund said its fraud investigators later discovered Campbell was operating his own roofing business, called Campbell Roofing, while collecting workers’ compensation benefits. State Fund also insured the roofing company owned and operated by Joseph C. Campbell.
State Fund referred the case to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office and California Department of Insurance for review. San Joaquin County District Attorney investigators confirmed that Campbell was operating a contracting business and had several employees. In addition to collecting workers’ compensation benefits, Campbell did not report payroll for his own company to State Fund, nor report payroll deductions to the Employment Development Department or to the California Franchise Tax Board. Campbell’s restitution order also included a payment of $23, 933 to EDD and $88, 828 to FTB.
Campbell was charged with one misdemeanor and 26 felony counts, which included insurance, premium, unemployment, revenue and tax code violations. Campbell later pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor and eight felony counts.
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