A California woman was sentenced Sept. 21 to three years of probation for her role in a multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud scheme that exposed the private data of more than 500,000 patients, according to the Justice Department.
Stefanie Hirsch, 51, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to violating HIPAA. Ms. Hirsch, who owned Medicare-enrolled wheelchair and scooter repair company El Medical, sold access to a Medicare eligibility tool that let Juan Perez Buitrago and Nathan LaParl improperly access patients' personal, medical and insurance information, the Justice Department said.
El Medical qualified for access to a healthcare clearinghouse that contained the patients' data, and Ms. Hirsch sold the two men access for about $0.25 per patient eligibility check. Using Ms. Hirsch's login credentials, Mr. LaParl accessed the personal data of more than 350,000 patients, and Mr. Perez Buitrago accessed 150,000 patients' information.
Mr. Perez Buitrago and Mr. LaParl pleaded guilty to federal healthcare crimes in October 2020 and January 2021, respectively.