News-Pilot from San Pedro, California • 6

The News-Pilot Friday, December 21, 1990 Area clinic By Gale Holland COPLEY NEWS SERVICE An Orange County physician has been indicted in an alleged $7 million insurance fraud scheme run from Southern California clinics, including at least one in the South Bay, that authorities described as medical testing mills. A federal grand jury this week charged 55-year-old Ameer Dikshit, also known as Dixit, with ordering unnecessary tests ranging from allergy workups to abdominal ultrasounds on patients at a string of clinics he and others secretly controlled along the coast from Los Angeles to the Mexican border. The South Bay clinic, Medical Group Inc. on Lomita Boulevard in Torrance, closed more than 21 years ago. Hundreds of patients were lured to the clinics from 1986 to late 1987 by boilerroom telephone sales forces promising "state of the art" diagnostic testing at free or nominal cost, investigators and the grand jury said.

After they arrived at clinics such as the one in Torrance, the patients were instructed to sign over their medical insurance benefits, then subjected to a battery of procedures, including electrocardiograms, musculo-skeletal evaluations, urinalyses, live cell analyses and blood chemistries, the indictment said. All of the tests were performed on every patient, regardless of condition, the indictment alleged, unless the patient refused it or a technician or physician ruled it a potential hazard. Frequently, a patient underwent some or all of the tests before a doctor even examined him or her, the indictment claimed. used in alleged Dixit was titularly the supervising physician or medical director at many of the clinics, the indictment said. The Laguna Niguel resident and unnamed accomplices would "doctor" medical charts and records to make it appear falsely that the tests had been ordered after patients complained of specific illnesses or injuries, the indictment charged.

The alleged false entries, made by Dixit or at his direction, were selected as those most likely to persuade the insurance companies to pay out, the indictment said. "Dr. Dixit went 80 far as to direct even non-medical personnel, such as administrators and clerical workers, to add diagnoses and symptoms to patients' medical histories, charts and said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Michaelson, who is prosecuting the case. The doctor and his confederates also used many apparent "paper" companies to mask the interrelationships between the outfits ordering the tests and those administering them all of which allegedly were directed by Dixit and associates, the indictment said.

The altered records also hid from the victim insurance companies, which included Blue Cross of California and Metropolitan Life, the fact that the tests were preventive in nature and free to the patients, the indictment said. The owners of many of the clinics overlapping, investigators said. Additional charges are expected to be filed in the case, investigators said. In addition to the Medical Group Inc. in Torrance, the 42-count mail fraud indictment names a Medical Group Inc.

in Tustin with a Torrance billing address, at 1337 El Prado Ave. Ten patients are named as plaintiffs in the complaint. Medical Group and the related Cardio Pulmonary Immuno Medical Center operated out of offices in the Surf Medical Building on Lomita Boulevard from the summer of 1987 until March 1988. The operation folded shortly after federal agents searched the offices and confiscated records as part of a criminal probe. Records showed that Dr.

William 0. Kupferschmidt was listed as the agent for Medical Group and Bogich Jovovich was president of Cardio Pulmonary Immuno Medical Center. Neither man was named in this week's indictment. Dozens of people who were examined at the Torrance clinic have complained that they received poor care and that their insurance companies were sent inflated bills. An arrest warrant was issued for Dixit, a Katmandu, Nepal, native who Wednesday emigrated to the United 1969, but as of late Wednesday he at large, authorities said.

Dixit received his state medical license in 1978 and records show that no disciplinary actions have been taken against him in the past, according to the Medical Board of California. Other participants included the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, the California Department of Insurance-Bureau of Fraudulent Claims, the Ontario police, and the Sheriff's Department. Dixit faces a maximum of 210 years in federal prison and a $10.5 million fine. scam Contributing to this article was staff writer Warren Robak.

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DEATHS Ethel D. Dupont Graveside services were scheduled today for Ethel D. Dupont, cafeteria manager at San Pedro High School for many years. Born Sept. 13, 1896, in Alabama, she died Dec.

19, 1990. Mrs. Dupont was a South Bay resident for 71 years. She is survived by a daughter, Dorothy Stump of Carson; three grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren. Graveside services were scheduled at 2 p.m.

today at Green Hills Memorial Park, Rancho Palos Verdes. Gerald Mulligan A memorial rosary is scheduled today for Gerald Mulligan, a longtime San Pedro resident. Dr. Mulligan, a dentist with a private practice in Long Beach, died Dec. 19, 1990.

He is survived by his mother, Dorothy of San Pedro; two brothers, John of Pennsylvania and Jim of San Clemente; and a sister, Kathleen Buscemi of San Pedro. Rosary is set for 6 p.m. at CLOSING OUR McNerney's Mortuary, Sa Pedro. Contributions may made to the San Pedro Penir sula Hospital Home Care an Hospice. Catherine McGovert Services were scheduled tc day for Catherine E.

McGovert a Carson resident for 50 years Born Dec. 28, 1914, in Ohic she died Dec. 19, 1990. Mrs. McGovern is survive by her husband, Merle.

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10, 1920, in Utah he died Dec. 19, 1990. Mr. Naverrette is survived bi a brother, Alfred of Diamone Bar; and a sister, Dolores Arel lano of Monterey Park. Services will be at 1 p.m.

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