B.R. one of 7 cities included in federal Medicare fraud sweep

Federal authorities today charged 107 doctors, nurses and social workers in seven cities across the United States, including Baton Rouge, with Medicare fraud in a nationwide crackdown on unrelated scams that allegedly bilked the taxpayer-funded program of $452 million—the highest dollar amount of any single Medicare bust. Among those arrested were the owners of two community mental health centers in Baton Rouge, charged with billing $225 million in their scams. Hoor Naz Jafri and Roslyn Dogan allegedly recruited vulnerable patients, including elderly people, drug addicts and the mentally ill. Patient charts were doctored to show services that were billed to Medicare but often never given, according to an indictment. Authorities suspended their companies in May 2011, but the pair continued billing Medicare after purchasing another fraudulent company, according to the indictment. When feds shut down that company, the pair tried to sell their “beneficiaries” to other providers in an attempt to keep making money. During the investigation, Dogan asked to visit the U.S. Attorney’s Office to review and copy documents that had been seized as part of a search. After the visit, “Dogan and co-conspirators bragged that, while pretending to copy files, they actually stole incriminating documents from the files and later destroyed them.” Dogan referred to herself as a “smooth criminal,” the indictment says. She and her co-conspirator could face life in prison if convicted. Five others were charged in connection with the Baton Rouge scam, capping a six-year investigation. Get the full story from The Associated Press here.