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mtdemocrat.com
Monday, July 19, 2021
Volume 170 • Issue 84
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Home health owner pleads guilty to fraud Mountain Democrat staff SACRAMENTO — Akop Atoyan, 48, owner of El Dorado Hills-based Excel Home Healthcare has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks. The plea came Thursday in a Sacramento courtroom before acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert. Atoyan and his wife, Liana Karapetyan, also owned and controlled home health care and hospice agencies ANG Health Care and Excel Hospice both in Folsom. On behalf of the agencies, Atoyan and Karapetyan certified to Medicare that they would not pay kickbacks in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals to the agencies, according to court documents. Despite their certifications, from at least July 2015 through April 2019, Atoyan and Karapetyan paid and directed others to pay kickbacks to multiple individuals for beneficiary referrals, including employees of health care facilities, as well as employees’ spouses. The kickback recipients included John Eby, a registered nurse who worked for a hospital in Sacramento; Anita Vijay, the director of social services at a skilled nursing and assisted living facility in Sacramento; Jai Vijay, Anita Vijay’s husband; and Mariela Panganiban, the director of social services at a skilled nursing facility in Roseville. In total, Atoyan, Karapetyan and others caused the agencies to submit more than 8,000 claims to Medicare for the cost of home health care and hospice services. Based on those claims, Medicare paid the agencies approximately $31 million. Of that amount, Medicare paid the agencies over $2 million for services purportedly provided to beneficiaries, but these beneficiaries were referred in exchange for kickbacks paid to, among others, Eby, Anita Vijay, Jai Vijay and Panganiban. Because the agencies obtained the beneficiary referrals by paying kickbacks, the agencies should not have received any Medicare reimbursement. This case is a product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Thuesen is prosecuting the case. As part of his guilty plea, Atoyan n
PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
See Fraud page 12
Photos Courtesy of Roxanne Mefford
Bryce Mefford, left, sister Mikayla and brother Colby are all smiles following trials for the U.S. Olympic team trials in Omaha, Neb. Bryce, who helped the Oak Ridge High School swim team win state championships, will compete in the Tokyo games in the 200 meter backstroke.
A ‘humble’ Mefford going for gold in Tokyo
Thomas Frey Staff writer
E
l Dorado Hills’ Bryce Mefford had just completed the swim of his life at the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials held at the CHI Health Center Omaha when he sat down with friends and family to eat at Jackson Street Tavern. The quaint destination in the Old Market neighborhood of Omaha, Neb., sits Bryce Mefford takes his mark at the U.S. Olympic Trials. less than a mile away from the arena and had become a trial. favorite spot for many of the world’s “Bryce said ‘Good, I bettered my best athletes competing for a spot on time,’ and that’s all,” said his mother the U.S. Olympic Team. Roxanne. The owner came up to the table After the owner walked away and recognized Bryce as one of the Bryce’s family and friends frequent diners at his restaurant and encouraged him to tell the owner asked him how he had done in his how it really went, that he had
done something incomprehensible — made Team USA in the 200-meter backstroke. “He quietly said he made the team,” Roxanne said. Bryce was practically born in a swimming pool. His father Scott was an All-American at the University of Utah in 1983 and competed in the 1984 U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in the 200-meter backstroke, the same event Bryce competed in 37 years later. Roxanne is an instructor at Glen Oaks Swim Club in Carmichael and is one of the finest teachers of technique in the country, according to fellow Glen Oaks instructor Gary McLaughlin. n
See Mefford, page 10
County to divvy up American Rescue Plan funds Eric Jaramishian Staff writer The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors heard a presentation Tuesday on use of American Rescue Plan Act funds. The presentation was based on guidelines from the United States Department of Treasury, which spells out four categories of eligible uses for the money. Those categories are public health and economic impacts of COVID-19, premium pay
for essential workers, revenue lost due to COVID-19 and investments in infrastructure. It was explained that funds must be used to respond to effects of COVID-19 in relation to public health and negative economic impacts. The ARPA funds will also be used to offer premium pay for essential workers, which will pay up to $13 per hour in addition to a worker’s regular pay, not exceeding $25,000 per worker. ARPA funds can also be used to avoid loss of government
services due to reduction of revenue and to invest in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. Funds cannot be used to deposit into pensions. Supervisors discussed priorities on how to use the money, including road maintenance, water infrastructure, assistance for small businesses and nonprofits. Chief Administrator Officer Don Ashton said the county should consider closely who
gets the assistance from the stimulus package, citing CARES act money and that some businesses are more in need of assistance than others that did get relief. “Not all businesses were harmed as the result of COVID, in fact some businesses did quite well,” Ashton said, noting that larger nonprofits were able to get grant money from the government, unlike smaller nonprofits. n
See Arpa funds, page 2
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