A physician who owns multiple urgent care centers in the St. Louis area and one of his office managers are facing federal healthcare fraud charges.
Sonny Saggar, MD, owns Downtown Urgent Care, Creve Coeur Urgent Care and St. Louis General Hospital, according to a July 27 news release from the Justice Department. Renita Barringer was the office manager at St. Louis General Hospital and later served on its board of directors. Each was indicted on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of making false statements.
They and others allegedly conspired to bill Medicare and Medicaid services performed by multiple assistant physicians as if Dr. Saggar had provided those services even when he was out of town, according to the release.