Thread: Doctor accused of Medi-Cal fraud

Published: May 3, 2011
Updated: 5:23 p.m.

Doctor accused of Medi-Cal fraud

By COURTNEY PERKES
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

A Buena Park doctor faces discipline by the California Medical Board for implanting birth control devices that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and then overbilling Medi-Cal.

In 2009, Dr. Bayardo Cruz pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and was ordered to repay $38,000, according to medical board documents.

Cruz initially purchased intrauterine devices or IUDs for $300 to $400 each. But he told investigators from the FDA that he lost money because Medi-Cal only reimbursed him $250 per device, the documents say.

In 2004, Universal Services, a medical supply company, approached him with an IUD made in Mexico that cost only $30. Cruz examined the IUD and determined that it looked similar to the more expensive kind. However, the documents say the safety was unknown because it wasn't approved by the FDA.

After Cruz started using the Mexican-made IUDs, his office continued billing Medi-Cal for the devices that cost 10 times as much, the documents say. He inserted about 110 Mexican IUDs into patients and received $38,000 from Medi-Cal over two years.

In 2009, the state sued his medical corporation. Cruz pleaded guilty on behalf of his corporation and was ordered to reimburse the state. He was also put on probation and given 150 hours of community service, the documents say.

Tony Cava, a spokesman for the state Department of Health Care Services, said Medi-Cal fraud costs the state roughly $400 million a year. Currently, 7.5 million low-income Californians are covered by Medi-Cal at a cost of $40 billion a year.

Cruz could face discipline ranging from a public reprimand to probation to loss of his medical license. To check a doctor's disciplinary record, visit medbd.ca.gov

Contact the writer: 714-796-3686 or cperkes@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/cal- ... -cruz.html

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