Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1293457
8 ASC MANAGEMENT Hospital founder to serve 66 months in prison, pay $82.9M over fraud scheme By Angie Stewart A n anesthesiologist was sentenced to more than five years in fed- eral prison aer pleading guilty to involvement in a $200 million fraud scheme at Dallas-based Forest Park Medical Center, a now-defunct physician-owned hospital for bariatric and spinal patients, according to the Department of Justice. e anesthesiologist, Richard Ferdinand Toussaint Jr., MD, will serve 66 months in prison concurrent to the 41 months he's al- ready serving for a separate healthcare fraud conviction. He was also ordered to pay more than $82.9 million in restitution. In March 2018, Dr. Toussaint entered a guilty plea in the Forest Park scheme, admitting to one count of conspiracy to pay healthcare bribes and kickbacks and one count of illegal remuneration under the Travel Act. Dr. Toussaint established Forest Park Medi- cal Center in 2008 alongside co-defendant Wade Neal Barker, MD, a bariatric surgeon who pleaded guilty before trial. ey conspired with the hospital's manager and other colleagues to illegally induce referrals of patients with high-reimbursing, out-of-network private insurance. Forest Park paid surgeons more than $40 mil- lion for these referrals with kickbacks that were mostly disguised as consulting fees or marketing payments, Dr. Toussaint said in his guilty plea. e physician-owned hospital also concealed discounts given to out-of-network patients, writing it off as uncollected bad debt to avoid payer scrutiny. Dr. Toussaint was one of 18 individuals convicted in connection to the kickback scheme. n California surgery center owner, companion allegedly defrauded $51M+ from insurance companies By Eric Oliver B everly Hills, Calif.-based Wellness Wave surgical center owner Randy Rosen, MD, and his compan- ion allegedly defrauded 18 insurance companies for more than $51 million, local NBC affiliate NBC 4 reports. Five things to know: 1. Dr. Rosen and co-defendant Liza Vismanos are being held on $52 million bail on charges alleging they ran an insurance fraud scheme. 2. In June 2017, Dr. Rosen and Ms. Vismanos allegedly targeted patients from addiction recovery rehabilita- tion clinics to implant a non-FDA-approved naltrexone implant and perform a series of cortisone injections. 3. Dr. Rosen allegedly put his patients under anesthesia for the procedures to bill insurance and ran unnecessary blood and urine tests at a laboratory he also owned. 4. An investigation claims the pair billed 18 insur- ance companies from June 2017 to May 2019 for $661,940,464, receiving $51,060,523. 5. Investigators believe the pair used "body-broker" groups to send patients to the clinic in exchange for a portion of the insurance proceeds, and that at least 35 of Dr. Rosen's patients have died, many by overdose. n Top-paying jobs in 2020 — Surgeons are No. 1 By Angie Stewart H ealthcare dominates the list of best-paying oc- cupations in 2020, according to a CEOWorld Magazine ranking. Ten top-paying jobs and the average annual salary for each: 1. Surgeon: $393,000 2. Anesthesiologist: $388,000 3. OB-GYN: $286,000 4. Oral and maxillofacial surgeon: $285,000 5. Psychiatrist: $228,000 6. General internists: $219,000 7. Orthodontist: $208,000 8. General practitioners: $207,000 9. Pediatrician: $201,000 10. Physician: $194,000 Nurse anesthetists, podiatrists and optometrists were also among the healthcare jobs that made the list, respectively ranking 11th, 17th and 24th. 11. Nurse anesthetist: $167,000 12. Dentist: $157,000 13. Prosthodontist: $154,000 17. Podiatrist: $129,000 19. Pharmacist: $126,000 24. Optometrist: $112,000 n