Former CEO of Whittier Clinic Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Medi-Cal Family Planning Program

A former CEO of a medical clinic in Whittier, Vincenzo Rubino, has pleaded guilty to nine counts of healthcare fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Rubino submitted fraudulent billings to a healthcare program called Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment (Family PACT) run through Medi-Cal. 

The program provides family planning services to low-income Californians without health insurance. Rubino's clinic, Santa Maria's Children and Family Center, submitted false claims totaling nearly $5 million from November 2014 to August 2017. Patients were recruited at off-site locations with offers of free diabetes testing, but they never received the examinations and other services. Rubino used the names of two medical providers who did not work for Santa Maria at the time, to submit many of these claims. 

The fraudulent claims totaled $2.3 million, and the Medi-Cal program paid an additional $1.5 million to a pharmacy and laboratory. Rubino will be sentenced on January 22, 2024, and faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each healthcare fraud count, with a mandatory sentence of two years in federal prison for each aggravated identity theft count.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the California Department of Justice investigated the matter, with Assistant United States Attorneys Kristen A. Williams and David H. Chao of the Major Frauds Section prosecuting the case.

By Anita Johnson-Brown

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