Physician in Laguna Hills Charged With Mail Fraud

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles filed mail fraud charges against a Laguna Hills physician Tuesday, alleging that he was part of a major scheme to perform unnecessary medical tests and bill them to insurance companies.

The physician, Ameer Dixit, was one of several on the staff of the Tustin Multispecialty Medical Clinic, Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Hennigan said. “He is not the sole, nor the ultimate, target of the investigation.”

The prosecutor said the clinic, which operated in Tustin for 2 1/2 to 3 years but is now out of business, drummed up customers through telephone solicitation. Potential patients were promised a complete physical examination at no cost if they had medical insurance.

Hennigan said patients routinely were given a battery of medical tests before even seeing a physician, running up $8,000 or more in medical bills during a 2-hour visit. The clinic then would file for insurance compensation under the names of several corporations, claiming that the patients had complained of specific ailments for which doctors had ordered the tests.

The mailing of the false claims is what constitutes mail fraud, Hennigan said. He said he could not estimate how much money the scheme had netted.

Lamond Mills, an attorney in Las Vegas representing the clinic’s owners, said he had not seen the charges and would not comment on them, other than to say that “those tests were necessary and proper for diagnoses that were proper.” Neither Dixit nor the clinic owners could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Hennigan said a summons will be issued to Dixit today ordering him to appear for arraignment in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Monday. He said he expects Dixit to plead guilty then or soon afterward.

Hennigan said the charges against Dixit are part of a 2-year investigation that has resulted in several convictions. The case against Dixit, however, is the first time an Orange County clinic or physician has been involved.

‘Other Targets’

“There are other targets we’re looking at, and we expect indictments to be returned fairly soon against a number of clinics and doctors in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties,” Hennigan said.

In February, 1987, the operators of Total Health Care in Norwalk--David Smuskevich, 36, of Encino; Yan Katz, 39, of Beverly Hills and Robert Keith Sheppard, 48, of Palos Verdes--were convicted in federal court of receiving kickbacks for referring all their Medicare cases to a particular medical laboratory, a violation of federal law.

Since then, federal civil suits have been filed by insurance companies and private welfare funds against Smuskevich and his brother, Michael, accusing them of operating as many as 42 medical laboratories in Los Angeles and Orange counties that have filed insurance claims for unnecessary tests and for tests that were never performed.

Attorneys for the Smuskevich brothers have described the lawsuits as “without merit.”

According to Hennigan, Michael Smuskevich and a man identified as Bogich Jovovich owned the Tustin Multispecialty Medical Clinic. He declined to say whether indictments are being sought against the owners.

“We don’t discuss grand jury matters,” Hennigan said.

He said the investigation is being conducted jointly by the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the state Department of Insurance.