Clinic owner admits defrauding government, Culinary Union

Grace Leong

Tuesday, March 20, 2001 | 11:15 a.m.

A Las Vegas health care clinic owner pleaded guilty Monday to bilking $350,000 from Medicare and a health and welfare fund of the Culinary Workers Union.

Liliana Mirchou, the owner of Santa Ana Medical Center at 865 N. Eastern Ave., Suite D, who pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben, agreed to repay the full $350,000 to the union and Medicare, said U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth.

Mirchou, who will forfeit an additional $350,000 to the government to be used to prosecute other health care frauds nationwide, also faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison and at least $250,000 in fines, Landreth said.

Mirchou admitted in court documents that from January 1996 through November 1998, she caused Santa Ana to submit false claims for payment for medical services that were provided by individuals practicing medicine without licenses.

"There's a requirement by Medicare and the Culinary union's health and welfare fund that payment will only be made for services given by licensed medical professionals or under their direct supervision," said Marc Garber, assistant U.S. Attorney.

Donald Green, Mirchou's attorney, said: "The $350,000 is the stipulated amount of loss as part of negotiations with the government, and under federal statutes, there must be an equal amount of forfeiture."

The Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners had filed a restraining order in March 1998 against a Santa Ana center physician and four medical workers accused of practising medicine without state medical licenses.

Summonses were issued against physician Rafael Mirchou, Liliana's husband, and the four medical workers.

The board said the five were examining patients, diagnosing illnesses and prescribing courses of treatment without the supervision of a licensed physician.

But a settlement was reached between Rafael Mirchou and the medical board in which the board granted him a limited license to practice as the chief resident at the Veteran's Hospital in Reno, Green said.

"And as part of the plea agreement for Liliana Mirchou, there will no charges filed against her husband because he was in Reno at the time she was taking the money," Green said.