Southern California hospitals accused of using homeless to defraud Medicare

Three Southern California hospitals, Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, Tustin Hospital and Medical Center, and City of Angels Medical Center, are alleged to have used the homeless to defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the facilities recruited homless patients for expensive and unnecessary medical procedures. The scheme used thousands of indigent patients over the last four years. Federal and state authorities expressed outrage over a fraudulent plan that endangered people’s health and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.