On Friday, it was announced that the owner of a Studio City clinic and a United Parcel Service driver had been indicted on health care fraud charges. The charges are related to unnecessary and sometimes never performed sleep studies, which ultimately resulted in more than $11 million in bills being submitted to health care benefits programs. The bills were primarily submitted for employees of Costco and UPS.
49-year-old Anna Vishnevsky of Valley Village was the owner of Atlas Diagnostic Services Inc., while 43-year-old Eddie Hernandez of Torrance worked for UPS. Both were arrested on Tuesday in accordance with an 11-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury on December 14, 2017. The defendants have entered not guilty pleas to the charges. A trial is scheduled to begin on January 30. Vishnevsky was released on $200,000 bond and Hernandez was freed on a $30,000 bond.
The indictment claims that the defendants and others recruited patients by offering cash in exchange for participation in a sleep study test. They are also accused of offering additional money to those who referred to others. The defendants recruited patients despite knowing that no doctor had prescribed sleep study testing for them and whether or not the testing was even needed.
Vishnevsky is accused of failing to interpret the data or allowing anyone to interpret it. Vishnevsky is also accused of billing some patients for two sleep studies, despite only visiting the clinic for a single night. It is believed that the defendants submitted more than $11 million in fraudulent claims. At this point in time, the defendants remain innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Both Hernandez and Vishnevsky are charged with 11 counts of health care fraud. Additional details regarding the charges can be found here.