Clinic owner and UPS driver indicted in bogus sleep study scheme that bilked employee health care pr

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/clinic-owner-and-ups-driver-indicted-bogus-sleep-study-scheme-bilked-employee-health

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Central District of California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 22, 2017

Clinic owner and UPS driver indicted in bogus sleep study scheme that bilked employee health care programs at UPS and Costco

LOS ANGELES – The owner a Studio City clinic and a driver for United Parcel Service have been indicted on health care fraud charges related to unnecessary – and sometimes never-performed – sleep studies that resulted in more than $11 million in bills being submitted to health care benefit programs, primarily for employees of UPS and Costco. Anna Vishnevsky, 49, of Valley Village, the owner of Atlas Diagnostic Services, Inc., and Eddie Hernandez, 43, of Torrance, who is the UPS driver, were arrested on Tuesday pursuant to an 11-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury on December 14. Vishnevsky and Hernandez were arraigned on the indictment Tuesday afternoon in United States District Court. After the two defendants entered not guilty pleas to the charges in the indictment, a trial was scheduled for January 30. Vishnevsky was released on a $200,000 bond, and Hernandez was freed on a $30,000 bond.
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According to the indictment, Vishnevsky, Hernandez and others recruited “patients” by offering cash in exchange for participating in sleep study testing. They also allegedly offered additional cash to those who brought dependents and referred co-workers to participate in the scheme. Vishnevsky and Hernandez allegedly recruited patients knowing that no doctor had prescribed sleep study testing for them, and regardless of whether the testing was medically necessary.

Vishnevsky failed to score or interpret the data from the testing, or provide it to anyone who could score or interpret it, which is necessary for diagnosis and treatment, according to the indictment. Vishnevsky is further alleged to have billed insurance providers for two sleep studies for many patients, even though they went to her clinic on one night only.

Investigators believe that Vishnevsky and others submitted more than $11 million in fraudulent claims, most of which related to beneficiaries of the UPS and Costco health care benefit programs.