DWC Suspends Nine Providers Convicted of Fraud

Wednesday, November 22, 2017 | 0

Nearly 100 medical providers have been kicked out of California’s workers’ compensation system since the start of the year.

The Division of Workers’ Compensation on Tuesday announced nine more suspensions, bringing to 94 the number of providers who have been suspended since the start of the year. The latest suspensions include:

• Sathish Narayanappa Babu, a physician in Bolingbrook, Illinois, who was convicted on federal charges of Medicare fraud and of fraudulently obtaining controlled substances in February 2015.
• Uche Chukwudi, a Gardena physician, indicted in 2013 in federal court on felony conspiracy and health care fraud charges for defrauding Medicare in a scheme involving durable medical equipment providers Adeline Ekwebelem, Charles Okoye and others. He failed to appear at pre-trial proceedings and was declared a fugitive, the division said. The Medical Board of California revoked his license in 2017.
• Charles Ikechukwu Okoye, a physician in Carson, who was convicted in federal court for conspiracy to commit health care fraud for defrauding Medicare in a scheme involving Ekwebelem, Chukwudi and others in 2014. Okoye surrendered his physician’s and surgeon’s certificate in 2015.
• Adeline Ekwebelem of Gardena, DME provider who worked with Chukwudi, Okoye and others, and was convicted in federal court on multiple counts of health care fraud, conspiracy and illegal kickbacks for patient referrals in 2014.
• Victoria Kim, a Los Angeles physician who pleaded guilty in federal court on a felony charge of receiving illegal kickbacks for home health care referrals. The Medical Board of California revoked her medical license in 2016.
• Daria Renee Million, a registered nurse in Corona who pleaded guilty in Riverside County in May 2015 to driving under the influence and in December 2015 to misdemeanor child endangerment. The California Board of Registered Nursing revoked her license in 2016.

The division also said it suspended the following providers who participated in a kickback scheme to provide medically unnecessary DME prescriptions to Medicare patients:

• Victoria Onyeabor of Ontario, former owner of Fendih Medical Supplies Inc. who was convicted in federal court for conspiracy to commit health care fraud in 2012 for submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare.
• Godwin Onyeabor of Ontario, a corporate officer at Fendih Medical Supplies Inc. who was convicted in federal court in 2013 for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, and conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks.
• Sri Jayantha Wijegunaratne of Anaheim Hills, a physician who was convicted in federal court in 2013 for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, and conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks. His medical license was revoked in 2016.

A full list of suspended providers is here.