Bay Sleep Clinic Owners Bust in $2.6M Medicare Scam

San Jose, CA — Anooshiravan Mostowfipour, 58, and Tara Nader, 58, the owners behind Bay Sleep Clinic and its shell corporations Qualium Corporation and Amerimed Corporation, have agreed to pay $2.6 million to settle federal allegations of systematic Medicare fraud. The couple, residents of Saratoga, Calif., allegedly ran a decade-long scheme billing Medicare for unauthorized sleep studies and medical devices, bypassing federal rules meant to protect patients and taxpayer dollars.

According to an amended False Claims Act complaint filed August 8, 2016, Mostowfipour and Nader used their network of 20 sleep clinics—operating under the Bay Sleep Clinic name—to submit false claims for diagnostic sleep tests performed by unlicensed technicians. Worse, prosecutors say, the tests were conducted at unapproved, unenrolled facilities, with documents routinely forged to make it appear services were rendered at one of only two Medicare-sanctioned locations.

The fraud didn’t stop there. The government alleges the defendants violated Medicare’s anti-kickback and conflict-of-interest rules by supplying durable medical equipment—including CPAP machines—while also operating diagnostic sleep labs. Federal regulations strictly prohibit such dual roles to prevent exploitation and inflated billing. Yet, through Amerimed Corporation—doing business as Amerimed Sleep Diagnostics and Amerimed CPAP Specialists—the pair blurred those lines for profit.

“Medicare patients expect to be treated by properly credentialed health care professionals in approved locations,” said U.S. Attorney Brian J. Stretch. “When companies treating Medicare beneficiaries violate the rules, they will be held accountable.” HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Steven Ryan added, “Patients and taxpayers deserve no less.”

The case was initially brought by whistleblower Elma F. Dresser under the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions. Dresser, who worked within the operation, filed United States ex rel. Dresser v. Qualium Corp., et al., Civil Action No. 12-1745 (N.D. Cal.), and will receive approximately $545,000 from the settlement. The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in May 2015, taking over the prosecution and filing its own complaint that September.

As part of the settlement, Mostowfipour and Nader have voluntarily terminated their Medicare enrollments and agreed not to reapply as providers or suppliers for three years. The resolution, handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erica Blachman Hitchings, Robin Wall, Kimberly Friday, and Tom Green—with investigative support from HHS-OIG—marks a rare enforcement win in the shadowy world of healthcare billing fraud. The claims settled remain allegations; no determination of liability has been made.