Mansour Sanjar and Cyrus Sajadi, the owners of a mental health clinic in Houston, as well as Chandra Nunn, who is the owner of an assisted living facility, were arrested last week in Houston on charges that they were responsible for more than $90 million in Medicare Fraud.
Sanjar and Sajadi, who are 78 and 64 respectively, are both physicians and own Spectrum Care, which is a clinic that specializes in partial hospitalization treatment. According to authorities, they have been billing Medicare for services that were not medically necessary and, in some instances, not preformed. Investigators contend that in some instances, Medicare was billed for mental health treatments that included group activities, like bingo.
Chandra Nunn, who is a 33 year old woman who, public records state, owns Love and Caring Homes Inc, which is an assisted living facility. Nunn is accused of using her position as owner and operator of the nursing home to send patients to Spectrum Care’s clinic for unneeded services that were billed to Medicare. Federal investigators state that she was paid $10,000 from Sanjar last year, as part of a payment to send patients to Spectrum Care.
Along with billing Medicare over $90 million in fraudulent claims, authorities believe all three individuals also bribed Medicare Recipients, sometimes providing cash or even cigarettes to get them to attend Spectrum Care. They may face additional charges as well.
An additional $20 million was paid to private medical ambulances that transported patients to Spectrum Care, which is typically only covered by Medicare when the trip is required as a medical emergency. Investigators have stated they are looking into this as well.
This is not the first time Sajadi has fallen afoul of the law, he was accused of having issues with properly keeping and maintaining patients records twice over the past 5 years by the Texas Medical Board and the state Government.
On the same day as the arrest, Wednesday, Syracuse University distributed a report that states that, according to data from the Department of Justice, Houston Texas is the second most common location in the United States for Medicare Fraud. Recently, a doctor in Houston was sentenced to 70 months in prison for his role in Medicare Fraud.