California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced securing a seven-year prison sentence against a San Joaquin County orthopedic surgeon for repeatedly defrauding the Medi-Cal and Medicare programs. From 2012 to 2016, Gary Wisner defrauded the Medi-Cal and Medicare programs by administering excessive and medically unjustifiable X-rays to his patients. In June, Wisner was convicted of 10 felony counts of healthcare insurance fraud. On September 2, Wisner was sentenced by the Sacramento Superior Court to serve a seven-year prison sentence.
In November 2016, representatives from the California Department of Justice, Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (DMFEA) were notified by multiple government offices of suspected fraud by Wisner in overbilling the Medi-Cal and Medicare programs. Wisner operated a medical clinic in Lodi, California where he had 26,000 patients under his care. In DMFEA’s investigation into Wisner’s alleged misconduct, investigators randomly selected the files of five Medi-Cal patients and five Medicare patients — these 10 files became the basis of the 10 felony charges Wisner was convicted of in June. DMFEA’s investigation revealed Wisner would administer X-rays even in routine office visits and would X-ray multiple parts of a patient’s body — regardless of whether it had any relation to a patient’s medical condition. Over the course of an approximate four-year period, evidence collected showed Wisner subjected ten individual patients to hundreds of unnecessary X-rays at his clinic.
