California Attorney General Rob Bonta has secured the sentencing of two Inland Empire hospice operators for committing Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud. Ralph Canales received seven years and four months in state prison and, along with his wife Rochell Canales, was ordered to pay $1,455,233 in restitution. Rochell Canales was sentenced to one year in jail and is barred from working with Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries or at any healthcare facility receiving funds from these programs. The announcement, made by the Attorney General’s office, details the prosecution by the California Department of Justice’s Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (DMFEA).
The case against Ralph and Rochell Canales, as well as other involved parties, stemmed from their operation of four hospice companies that submitted false claims between 2013 and 2022, defrauding healthcare programs by misrepresenting patient eligibility for hospice care. “Medi-Cal and Medicaid exist to serve our most vulnerable communities. They are lifelines, not opportunities for exploitation,” Attorney General Bonta said in a statement. The Canales were found to have been paying illegal kickbacks to marketers and doctors, a serious breach of trust and legality in the healthcare system. The investigation also revealed that the couple failed to properly pay corporate taxes.
Details of the fraudulent activities were revealed in a press release from the Attorney General’s Office. The hospice operators’ scams involved at least 52 patients who were ineligible for hospice care, adding yet another layer to their deceit. Moreover, DMFEA, which aims to protect Californians from fraud and abuse, receives significant funding from both federal and state sources, underlining the importance of cases such as this in upholding the integrity of healthcare services…