Clinic manager gets one year in prison for fraud
Desai aide Tonya Rushing helped doctor overbill insurers
The former clinic manager for the doctor at the center of the 2007 hepatitis C outbreak was sentenced Monday to 366 days in federal prison in an $8.1 million health care fraud scheme stemming from the deadly outbreak.
Tonya Rushing, 47, pleaded guilty in July to one felony count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Rushing and Dr. Dipak Desai were charged with carrying out the scheme to over-bill health insurance companies between January 2005 and February 2008.
Desai, 65, who is serving a life sentence for a state conviction in the hepatitis outbreak, pleaded guilty last month to one felony count each of conspiracy and health care fraud. He is to be sentenced in federal court on July 9.
Rushing showed remorse in the courtroom, telling Senior U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks, “I want to sincerely apologize to my family, the court system and the community for my actions.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Crane Pomerantz sought a 30-month sentence, arguing that her association with Desai, one of the “most notorious criminals” here in the past 30 years, was out of “pure greed.” Pomerantz said Rushing unlawfully earned $1.3 million from the scheme.
Rushing’s attorneys, Robert Draskovich and Gary Modaferri, sought a sentence of two years probation in court papers explaining she has no prior criminal history and has overcome significant trauma in her life.
In 1992, according to the lawyers, Rushing was kidnapped at gunpoint from a California mall and repeatedly assaulted by “Crips” gang members. She eluded her captors in a hail of gunfire in the desert as they were arguing over who would kill her.
Hicks said in court that he was impressed with the many letters of support he received on Rushing’s behalf, and he agreed with Draskovich that Rushing did not endanger the lives of any patients.
But Hicks said he felt that he had to sentence her to time behind bars. He said the $8.1 million loss from the scheme was “absolutely astounding,” and he shared the government’s concerns about Desai, calling him “one of the worst of the criminals” Las Vegas has seen in recent years.
Hicks also fined Rushing $10,000 and ordered her to pay $50,000 in restitution and serve two years of supervised release with community service after prison.
He also signed an a $8.1 million government forfeiture judgment against her. “Those perpetrating Medicare and Medicaid fraud cheat both taxpayers and vulnerable patients,” Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said afterward. “We will hold criminals accountable and will seek to recover stolen dollars in each case of health-care fraud we prosecute.”
According to Rushing’s plea agreement, she and Desai submitted bills to Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers inflating anesthesia times at Desai’s Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada on Shadow Lane.
Rushing admitted that she earned $1.3 million in inflated anesthesia profits through Healthcare Business Solutions, a company she set up at Desai’s orders to handle the anesthesia billing at his clinic.
She acknowledged that Desai put intense pressure on clinic staffers to perform as many procedures as possible each day and there was no way the reported anesthesia times could be true.
Rushing testified against Desai at his state trial last year and was not charged in that case. The lead prosecutor, Chief Deputy District attorney Michael Staudaher, wrote a letter of support for her to Hicks explaining her cooperation.
A jury convicted Desai on July 1 of all 27 criminal counts related to the outbreak, including second-degree murder in the death of infected patient Rodolfo Meana, 77. District Judge Valerie Adair later sentenced Desai to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 18 years.
The state charges, which included criminal neglect of patients and insurance fraud, involved the 2007 hepatitis C infections of Meana and six other patients at Desai’s now-closed endoscopy center.
Prosecutors contended unsafe injection practices involving the anesthetic propofol led to the outbreak Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter @JGermanRJ