LA Prosecutor Plans To Charge 200 Doctors With Phony Billing
By Associated Press - March 1, 2006LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A prosecutor said he plans to file tax evasion charges against some 200 doctors in Los Angeles County who allegedly bilked insurers and the state out of $200 million with phony billings.
The physicians are on a list of suspects identified by the medical fraud unit of the district attorney's office, which was created in 2003.
"It's staggering. It's disgraceful," Deputy District Attorney Al MacKenzie said. "You have one doctor alone who got $23 million in five years from the workers' comp system."
The unit seeks tax evasion charges against physicians rather than undertaking prosecutions for medical fraud.
"The advantage is speed," MacKenzie said. "Some time ago, the FBI sent me 20 referrals, and I copied their list and sent it to my contacts. Well, in one day, we found out five of them didn't pay or file any state income taxes. That leads to very solid charges."
To date, six people have been convicted, including a doctor who pleaded to one count of tax fraud last week for failing to report $4 million in income.
MacKenzie said would like the program to become national.
"It can be done in any state that has a health care fraud problem," he said. | 
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