Augustus Ohemeng, Medicare Fraud Scheme, California 2024

LOS ANGELES – A Buena Park doctor has been convicted of participating in a health care fraud scheme involving unnecessary procedures and prescriptions that led to Medicare paying out nearly $3 million on fraudulent claims for durable medical equipment and nutritional supplies.

Dr. Augustus Ohemeng, 62, was found guilty yesterday afternoon of six counts of health care fraud while serving as medical director at Pacific Clinic in Long Beach. The evidence presented at trial showed that Ohemeng and others recruited Medicare patients and billed the national healthcare program for office visits that typically included unnecessary tests and procedures.

The scheme involved generating fraudulent prescriptions for medical equipment, power wheelchairs, and enteral nutritional supplies, which were sold to medical supply companies that used the documents to bill Medicare for millions of dollars of unnecessary and undelivered medical supplies.

According to court documents, nearly all of the wheelchair prescriptions Ohemeng signed were written for people who could walk. Ohemeng signed hundreds of these prescriptions over the course of four years, many of which were blank so his office manager could fill in the details.

As a result of the fraudulent conduct involving Ohemeng and his co-conspirators, which took place from February 2005 through September 2009, $5.6 million in fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare, which paid approximately $2.97 million.

Ohemeng faces a maximum statutory sentence of 60 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on June 17 by United States District Judge Christina A. Snyder.

The investigation into Pacific Clinic, Ivy Medical Supply in Anaheim, and Santos Medical Supply in South Los Angeles was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. All 10 defendants, including the owner of Ivy Medical Supply, have now been convicted, either as the result of guilty pleas or jury verdicts.

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