Santa Monica Medical Clinic Named in $24M Plastic Surgery Settlement Children’s Hospital To Hold Walk & Play At Santa Monica Pier

Tower Wound Care Center of Santa Monica Inc. was named as one of several entities that falsified the place of service and fraudulent billing in an almost $24 million settlement involving a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon.

The $23.9 million settlement resolved allegations that the Santa Monica center along with Dr. Joel Aronowitz; Daniel Aronowitz; Joel A. Aronowitz, M.D. medical corporation; Tower Multi-Specialty Medical Group, Tower Outpatient Surgery Center Inc. and Tower Medical Billing Solutions falsified the place of service for skin grafts and billed single-use skin substitute products multiple times.

The U.S. believes the parties increased reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid by manipulating the place of service code on skin graft claims. It also contends Dr. Aronowitz didn’t dispose of skin graft materials so they could be used in procedures for other Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. This led to thousands of instances of double billing.

Those actions violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to both Medicare and Medicaid.

Walk and Play L.A. is an upcoming family-friendly community event that will take place on May 20, 2023, at Santa Monica Pier. The event aims to promote the well-being of children in Los Angeles and raise critical funds in support of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). The event will consist of a 3K walk, a family festival, live entertainment for all ages, and sports activities hosted by professional teams and athletes. All funds raised from the event will be directed towards CHLA’s mission to create hope and build healthier futures, and participants can choose which of CHLA’s medical divisions, programs, or specialty services they wish to support.

Celebrity guests, including KOST 103.5 on air personality Ellen K and boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, will be honorary hosts. Additionally, several sports activities will be available for participants, including Beach Volleyball with “King of the Beach” Sinjin Smith, Hockey with the LA Kings, Football with the LA Chargers and NFL Alumni Association, Basketball with Breakthrough Sports, Training Skills with Hansel Aquino, and Adaptive Sports with PlayLA and Angel City Sports. More activities will be added to the line-up in the coming weeks.

The event will be attended by several key figures, including Paul S. Viviano, CHLA President and CEO, and Alex Carter, Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer, who will be available for interviews. The family festival will begin at 7:00 a.m. PST, and the event will conclude at 12:00 p.m. PST. Media check-in will also take place at 7:00 a.m. PST. Those interested in registering can visit the Walk and Play L.A. website at www.walkandplayla.org. For further inquiries, please contact Marlen Bugarin at mbugarin@chla.usc.edu or 323636-9309.