The executive director of the California-based Morrow Institute was indicted in a superseding indictment which added several new charges of fraud and identity theft to a previous case that billed insurance companies $50 million for procedures that were wrongly classified, InsuranceNewsNet reports.
Here's what you should know.
1. The executive director and her husband, the center's owner, allegedly attempted to pass off cosmetic procedures as "medically necessary" to receive reimbursement through insurance.
2. The new indictment brings an additional nine charges against the woman, including three for mail fraud, three for identity theft and three for aggravated identity theft. If the woman is convicted she has to forfeit all of the assets associated with the scheme.
In total the executive director is facing 24 counts of mail fraud, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
3. Patients were allegedly lured to the institute, where the executive director would promise them PPO health insurance plans would pay for the procedures.
4. The center submitted bills that were as high as $100,000 for individual surgeries. The indictment alleges that some repeat patients suffered medical complications from the procedures.
5. The husband pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and for filing a false tax return earlier in the year. He paid victims more than $1 million in restitution. The man admitted to altering a medical record by writing the word hernia over the actual procedure: abdominoplasty. He will be sentenced on Dec. 2. He faces a maximum penalty of 23 years in prison.
More healthcare news:
7 things for ASC leaders to know for Thursday — Sept. 8, 2016
How to prepare for a successful interventional pain practice in the future: Q&A With Dr. Standiford Helm
Lessons Coral Gables Surgery Center's Maria Freed brought from inpatient leadership to the ASC