A medical director, operator, and two unlicensed practitioners at a Texas medical clinic are now in custody on charges related to their alleged participation in a $32 million healthcare fraud scheme. Farrah Forough Farizani, D.O., 57, Hamid Reza Razavi, 60, Elie Hanna Hajjar, 48, and Juan Acuña, 64, all of Houston, made their appearances today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christina Bryan. Farizani and Razavi are the medical director and operator, respectively, of Hillcroft Physicians, while Hajjar and Acuña were former unlicensed practitioners there.
According to the indictment, Farizani and Razavi directed Hajjar and Acuña to pose as licensed medical professionals. Hajjar and Acuña then allegedly examined, diagnosed, treated, referred and prescribed drugs for patients, many of whom were non-English speaking Medicaid clients unfamiliar with the American medical system. Farizani and Razavi allegedly directed Hillcroft Physicians’ billing staff to submit false claims to Medicaid and Medicare as though Farizani had seen and treated the patients, even when Farizani was out of the country. The indictment alleges that the defendants submitted or caused the submission of approximately $31 million in claims to Medicaid for which Medicaid paid approximately $12.2 million. They also submitted approximately $600,000 in claims to Medicare for which Medicare paid approximately $250,000.
