The owner of a Whittier, Calif.-based medical clinic pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme that fraudulently billed Medi-Cal for $5 million in services that were never performed.
Vincenzo Rubino, 58, of Valencia, Calif., pleaded guilty to nine counts of healthcare fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft in the middle of a federal criminal trial, according to an Aug. 3 Justice Department news release.
Mr. Rubino owned and operated Santa Maria's Children and Family Center, according to the release. From November 2014 to August 2017, the clinic submitted $5 million in fraudulent claims to the Family PACT program for services that were never provided, often using information from patients who were recruited at off-site locations with offers of free diabetes testing, but who never received the examinations.
Medi-Cal paid more than $2.3 million on the fraudulent claims and another $1.5 million to a pharmacy and laboratory stemming from referrals based on the same services that were never delivered, according to the release.