More than $300 million in unnecessary COVID-19 testing could land Glendale lab owner in prison for

Also: Woman Pleads Guilty to $359M Fraud Involving Claims for Unnecessary Respiratory Tests Submitted with COVID-19 Tests (U.S. Department of Justice)

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Source: Los Angeles Times

More than $300 million in unnecessary COVID-19 testing could land Glendale lab owner in prison for 20 years

Andrew J. Campa
Fri, October 6, 2023 at 10:52 PM EDT·3 min read

A Glendale laboratory owner acknowledged in federal court that she fraudulently billed hundreds of million of dollars in COVID-19 testing during a nearly two-year run.

Lourdes Navarro, 64, could potentially spend up to 20 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice, after pleading guilty Thursday to healthcare and wire fraud. A federal judge will determine her fate at a sentencing hearing on Jan. 23.

“Those who stole from government health programs during the COVID-19 pandemic not only violated federal law, they betrayed the public trust,” Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Navarro and her husband, Imran Shams, billed the government and private health companies $359 million for what were deemed unnecessary respiratory pathogen panel, or RPP, tests from June 2020 to April 2022, according to the Department of Justice.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/more-300-million-unnecessary-covid-025239166.html

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Source: U.S. Department of Justice

Woman Pleads Guilty to $359M Fraud Involving Claims for Unnecessary Respiratory Tests Submitted with COVID-19 Tests

Thursday, October 5, 2023
For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

A California woman pleaded guilty today to fraudulently submitting claims to governmental and private insurance programs during the COVID-19 pandemic for expensive and medically unnecessary respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) tests.

“Those who stole from government health programs during the COVID-19 pandemic not only violated federal law, they betrayed the public trust,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “As this action to disrupt a $359 million scheme, and the Department’s recent announcement involving over 300 defendants and over $830 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud make clear, the Justice Department will continue to find and hold accountable those who defrauded American taxpayers during the pandemic.”

“Today’s plea marks an end to this costly health care fraud scheme in which bad actors fraudulently ordered medically unnecessary tests to reap ill-gotten gains,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “Through coordination and close collaboration with our partners, the public can rest assured that the FBI will work relentlessly to protect our healthcare system and hold those accountable who attempt to illegally exploit it.”

According to court documents, from June 2020 to April 2022, Lourdes Navarro, 64, of Glendale, conspired with Imran Shams to obtain nasal swab specimens from residents and staff at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, rehabilitation facilities, and students and staff at primary and secondary schools, for the purported purpose of conducting screening tests to identify and isolate individuals infected with COVID-19. Obtaining those samples enabled Matias Clinical Laboratory, dba Health Care Providers Laboratory (HCPL), to perform RPP tests on some of the specimens, even though only COVID-19 testing had been ordered and even though there was no medical justification for conducting RPP tests. Navarro and Shams submitted, through HCPL, approximately $359 million in claims for the unnecessary RPP tests to Medicare, the Health Resources and Services Administration COVID-19 Uninsured Program, and a private health insurance company, and were reimbursed approximately $54 million.

“The defendant used her management position at a clinical testing laboratory to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic for personal gain,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This case demonstrates the Criminal Division’s continued resolve in working with our partners to root out bad actors who steal from government health programs.”

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Read more: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/woman-pleads-guilty-359m-fraud-involving-claims-unnecessary-respiratory-tests-submitted