An Israeli citizen living in California has been arrested and charged in a $27 million Medicare fraud case, after federal prosecutors said he ran hospice companies that billed the U.S. government for patients who were not terminally ill, and in some cases for people who were already dead.
The defendant, Oren David Shachar, 59, of Van Nuys in Los Angeles, is accused of operating at least four hospice care companies: Gentle Touch Hospice Care Inc. in Valley Glen, Oxford Hospice Care Inc. in Montclair, Art of Hospice Inc. in Encino and Holly Trinity Hospice in Glendale.
Hospice care is meant for terminally ill patients, usually when treatment is no longer intended to cure the disease but to ease suffering and improve quality of life at the end of life. Medicare is the U.S. government health insurance program mainly serving people over 65 and some younger people with disabilities.
According to a 16-count federal indictment unsealed in Los Angeles, Shachar conspired with marketers and submitted false claims for hospice services that were medically unnecessary because the patients were not terminally ill, or were never provided because the patients had already died.
Prosecutors say proceeds from the alleged fraud helped fund a lavish lifestyle, including the purchase of a Rolls-Royce Phantom worth about half a million dollars.
Shachar, Abraham Shin, 66, of Corona, and Jeannie Choi, 57, of Torrance, are charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud,...
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