Hospital executive arrested for allegedly using homeless people in medical fraud

A hospital executive was arrested this morning for allegedly paying homeless people for unnecessary medical treatment in a scheme to bilk government health programs of millions of dollars.

Robert Bourseau, who once helped run City of Angels Medical Center, was taken in to custody at his Los Angeles home this morning by federal investigators as part of an ongoing probe into a massive fraud scheme using thousands of homeless people from skid row as patients.

Bourseau will appear on charges of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and of taking illegal kickbacks as part of the scheme to defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal, said  Asst. U.S. Atty. Vince Farhat. He is slated to appear before a federal magistrate in a downtown court.

Photo: Law enforcement personal from multiple local and federal agencies entered the hospital to serve search warrants on this and two other hospitals as part of an investigation into alleged Medicare fraud involving homeless patients who were recruited from Skid Row. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Just walking the dog here.]

Theft of government money (our contributed tax dollars) intended for compelling government purposes by people that have an education and can legitimately make a good living (without committing a crime) makes me ill. Their greed is simply amazing and something I cannot even understand, thus I have a hard time anticipating that they will commit it. This sort of action allows for conservatives to claim its the fault of too much government. Some sort of special punishment needs to be found that is somehow more repugnant (to these offenders) than incarceration. The level of punishment must match their level of greed.

[Manny]

Well, another executive that thought he can get away with it. So, much for all those years he spent in school trying to better himself. well, at least now he will have more free time to after his PHD.

[sam magee]

This person should be made to pay back everything even if it means selling ALL of his personal belongings including his house, cars, jewlery, everything and also pay for his own expenses while in jail. 10 years minimum. DO IT.

[Hector Cruz]

What? You mean the illegal aliens weren't the ones bilking our social services? You mean to tell me an educated American citizen ripped off the tax payers? You don't say!

[Shipwreckedcrew]

You have no idea how much waste there is in the gov't funded health care field. There is no meaningful way to audit payments made. Entire organizations are dedicated to extracting money from the gov't through the fruadulent billing of Medicaid. In the 1990's, Russian Organized Crime saw how easy it was to make millions, and came in with all they had.

It's as simple as this:

Set up a "durable medical goods" store front in a strip mall in a poor section of LA -- selling orthopedic shoes, walkers, etc -- stuff that is covered by Medicaid if you have a prescription.

Pay $100 to a poor person to use their Medicaid card, and kick back $500 to unscrupulous doctors for every prescription they write.

Bill the State of California about $5000 for all kinds of stuff under the Medicaid number which is never really sold or delivered.

Keep this up for about 3 months, then shut down and walkaway from the business.

Set up shop at a different location and start over.

What does Medicaid and HHS do? They send you checks.

[Da Maverick]

Revoke all of his official California licenses (CPA, MD, whatever) and yes, go after all of his property. However, since he has shown to be the offspring of pig droppings, he's probably transferred a lot of his property to his next-of-kin, or bought property in Florida, which is protected by State law against any bankruptcy proceedings. In a better world, Bourseau would be homeless.