Porter Ranch Physician Guilty in $1.4 Million Medicare Fraud Case, Faces Up to 10 Years in Prison

According to the Office of Public Affairs, a California doctor has acknowledged her involvement in a healthcare fraud operation that embezzled at least $1.4 million from Medicare. In a guilty plea to federal charges of healthcare fraud, Porter Ranch-based physician Dr. Lilit Gagikovna Baltaian admitted to miscertifying patients as qualified for Medicare-covered home health services.

Baltaian collaborated with at least four home health businesses in the Los Angeles area between January 2012 and July 2018, engaging in fraudulent operations by using her fictitious qualifications to bill for needless services. According to court records, the doctor received payment in cash for these recommendations and even claimed payment for signing the fictitious certifications. The Office of Public Affairs reports that Medicare has suffered a substantial loss of more than $1 million as a result of these fraudulent operations.

Under the direction of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, the case against Baltaian is a component of a broader federal assault on healthcare fraud. Since its creation in March 2007, this initiative has charged thousands of defendants who, taken together, have billed private insurers and health care programs more than $27 billion. According to the Office of Public Affairs, Baltaian faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison when she is sentenced on April 3, 2025.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, Assistant Director in Charge Akil Davis of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Timothy B. DeFrancesca of the HHS-OIG’s Los Angeles Regional Office are among the officials spearheading the inquiry. Trial Attorneys Eric Schmale and Matthew Belz of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

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