SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Akop Atoyan, 51, of Glendale, was sentenced at this time to 25 months in jail for one depend of conspiracy to commit well being care fraud and one depend of conspiracy to pay and obtain well being care kickbacks, U.S. Legal professional Phillip A. Talbert introduced.
As well as, Atoyan was ordered to pay $2,525,363 in restitution to the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies and to forfeit that very same quantity to america.
Based on court docket paperwork, Atoyan and his spouse, Liana Karapetyan, owned and managed residence well being care and hospice businesses within the better Sacramento space: ANG Well being Care Inc., Excel Residence Healthcare Inc., and Excel Hospice Inc. On behalf of the businesses, Atoyan and Karapetyan licensed to Medicare that they might not pay kickbacks in change for Medicare beneficiary referrals to the businesses.
Regardless of their certifications, from a minimum of July 2015 by way of April 2019, Atoyan and Karapetyan paid and directed others to pay kickbacks to a number of people for beneficiary referrals, together with staff of well being care amenities, in addition to staff’ spouses. The kickback recipients included John Eby, a registered nurse who labored for a hospital in Sacramento; Anita Vijay, the director of social providers at a talented nursing and assisted residing facility in Sacramento; Jai Vijay, Anita Vijay’s husband; and Mariela Panganiban, the director of social providers at a talented nursing facility in Roseville.
In complete, Atoyan, Karapetyan, and others induced the businesses to submit over 8,000 claims to Medicare for the price of residence well being care and hospice providers. Primarily based on these claims, Medicare paid the businesses roughly $31 million. Of that quantity, Medicare paid the businesses a minimum of $2.5 million for providers purportedly offered to beneficiaries referred in change for kickbacks paid to, amongst others, Eby, Anita Vijay, Jai Vijay, and Panganiban. As a result of the businesses obtained the beneficiary referrals by paying kickbacks, the businesses mustn’t have obtained any Medicare reimbursement.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Division of Well being and Human Companies’ Workplace of Inspector Common. Assistant U.S. Legal professional Matthew Thuesen prosecuted the case.
In separate instances, Eby and Panganiban await sentencing after pleading responsible for his or her roles within the kickback scheme. On Jan. 20, 2022, Anita Vijay was sentenced to at least one month in jail, and Jai Vijay was sentenced to 2 years’ probation. On July 21, 2022, Karapetyan was sentenced to 18 months in jail.
