View this article online: https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2004/09/23/46202.htm
Modesto, California residents Dr. Kyon Maung Teo, D.D.S., 42, and his wife, Kin Thor Pang, 33, were arrested this week as part of a sweep conducted from Sacramento to San Diego to apprehend 21 people suspected of defrauding the state’s Medi-Cal system of more than $4.5 million.
Teo, owner of Hatch Dental Clinics located in Ceres, Stockton and Modesto, 19 other dentists, and Pang, the clinics’ office manager, are suspected of multiple felonies, including health insurance billing fraud and workers’ compensation premium fraud, conspiracy, grand theft, child and elder abuse, assault, and intentional infliction of great bodily injury.
The arrests were the result of a joint investigation between the California Department of Justice, California Department of Health Services and the California Department of Insurance, Fraud Division (CDI). Bail amounts for Teo and Pang were set at $1,000,000 each.
The CDI investigation, limited to Teo and Pang, revealed that the husband and wife team allegedly committed $6,640 in billing fraud to various health insurance carriers. The investigation further revealed Teo and Pang allegedly committed worker’s comp premium fraud by intentionally understating the salaries of Hatch Dental Clinic employees. The underreporting resulted in a suspected total loss of $10,102 on policies covered by two separate workers’ comp insurance carriers.
A criminal complaint filed by Attorney General Bill Lockyer in Stanislaus County Superior Court alleges Teo is the mastermind of a scam involving dentists throughout California.
According to the complaint, Teo placed advertisements on the backs of missing children flyers and in PennySaver and DollarSaver classifieds. The advertisements offered gifts or rebates to Medi-Cal beneficiaries and “new patients” who sought services at Hatch Dental Clinics.
Teo and Pang are believed to be involved in numerous incidents of billing for services not rendered, as well as altering dates of service or types of service in order to obtain monies from insurance carriers. Pang allegedly trained office staff to complete false dental claims, including changing dates of service or billing Medi-Cal and private insurance companies for “emergency” office visits if the patients’ were ineligible for routine coverage at the time of service.
In addition, claims were allegedly submitted for visits that never occurred and for non-existent procedures purportedly performed during the fabricated office visits.
All 21 suspects are scheduled to be arraigned in Stanislaus Superior Court on Friday, Sept 24, at 1:30 p.m.