PEORIA, Ariz. — A medical doctor from Peoria has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to health care fraud.
Linh Cao Nguyen, 51, was sentenced last week for partaking in a scheme involving thousands of false medical billing claims, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of Arizona.
The claims identified a medical doctor as the provider of services, whereas the provider was actually a nurse or social worker. By billing services provided by a doctor, the defendant could inflate the amount of money his company could be paid.
Nguyen was ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution to private insurance companies and $2.5 million to the government, officials said.
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