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The owner of multiple South Bay acupuncture clinics has pleaded no contest to felony insurance fraud, Santa Clara County prosecutors said.
Dr. Hidenori Anto, who also went by Dr. Yunyong Lu, a 61-year-old Saratoga resident, entered the plea as part of an agreement to serve a year in county jail, be on probation for five years, and make restitution of $400,000, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Between 2016 and 2020, Anto misclassified patient treatments, billed for treatments that never occurred, and hid his identity from insurance carriers, prosecutors said.
The clinics Anto has operated are Anto Acupuncture and Herb Clinic on Pacifica Drive in Cupertino, Vitality Acupuncture Clinic on West El Camino Real in Mountain View, Prospect Acupuncture on Prospect Road in Saratoga, and Green Creek Acupuncture on Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino.
“Medical providers hold a unique position of trust with their patients. When they use that status to defraud insurance companies and line their own pockets, they increase our insurance rates and harm the public’s confidence in our health care system,” Deputy District Attorney Mattia Corsiglia said in a statement.
I saw this at clinics which billed the government, e.g. Medi-Cal or Obamacare. For example, a dentist told me “this procedure is normally done in four visits.” Then he billed Obamacare for four treatments. Nobody checks that stuff.