The founder and former CEO of Merced, Calif.-based Horisons Unlimited, a chain of health clinics, will be excluded from federal healthcare programs and sell 13 properties to resolve false claims allegations, according to the Department of Justice.
The civil and criminal divisions of the U.S. Attorney's Office conducted parallel investigations of Sandra Haar. She is selling the properties, which include shuttered clinics and residential properties, as part of the civil settlement. The proceeds will be remitted to the federal government and the state of California. Ms. Haar and a for-profit company she controlled will also be banned from participating in Medicare and other federal healthcare programs for 20 years.
Ms. Haar was sentenced to five years in prison for her role in a billing fraud scheme Nov. 4, more than a year after she pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and conspiracy to receive kickbacks.
She orchestrated a scheme to bill Medicare and Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, for services that were not reimbursable between January 2014 and March 2017. As part of the scam, she billed Medi-Cal for office visits with physicians when patients were dispensed Suboxone, an opioid medication, in McDonald's and Rite Aid parking lots, according to the Justice Department.
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