Feds bust hospice in shocking early morning fraud takedown

FBI agents in conjunction with Health and Human Services raided the home of a husband and wife who own a California hospice accused of committing $7 million in fraud.

The raid is one of several that took place early Thursday morning.

In dramatic fashion, the couple, who operate St. Francis Palliative Care, were arrested at their home by FBI SWAT teams as authorities called out in loud speakers to come out.

Their hospice had a mortality rate of just 2.3% over the last five years, according to CMS.

The husband is a psychologist and the wife is a nurse.

The raids come on the heels of a California Post investigation that revealed a network of suspicions doctors who appear to be driving tens of millions of questionable billing in California’s hospice system.

Dr. Fariba Javaherian is a a registered dermatologist, but according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) billing data obtained by The Post, she is associated with 63 hospice facilities across California either as a medical director, attending physician or in some other capacity.

The National Provider Identifier (NPI) registered with Dr. Javaherian, a unique 10 digit number given to individual healthcare providers, was used for 1,662 unique patients across the 63 hospice agencies and appeared on more than 6,000 claims that billed $35,816,331.

Following The Post’s investigation, CMS revoked Javaherian’s license to bill Medicare and suspended the license of at least 16 hospice agencies associated with the dermatologist.

“Dr. Javaherian’s white coat was a costume,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said.
Javaherian is not accused of any wrongdoing.

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