BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A former Delano physician charged in a multimillion-dollar well being care fraud scheme surrendered her license after a psychiatrist decided she will be able to now not apply medication attributable to “psychological impairments,” in keeping with state medical board paperwork.

The give up of Estrella Pineda Asejo’s license took impact final month, the paperwork say.

Asejo, 79, was amongst greater than a dozen individuals charged final 12 months in an insurance coverage fraud scheme by which the homeowners of two Inland Empire hospice corporations paid unlawful kickbacks for affected person referrals and accepted sufferers who didn’t qualify for hospice, in keeping with federal prosecutors.

She accepted a plea deal and is scheduled to be sentenced to probation subsequent 12 months, mentioned Jared M. Thompson, her lawyer.

The homeowners of Sterling Hospice Care, Inc. and New Hope Hospice, Inc. paid Asejo to refer sufferers to them whether or not they have been terminally sick or not, prosecutors say in charging paperwork.

The scheme defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal of greater than $4,290,000, in keeping with the paperwork.

“Among the many sufferers who have been illegally referred to Sterling and New Hope have been sufferers who had no thought they have been ever positioned on hospice,” prosecutors say within the paperwork. “Their Medicare card and Medi-Cal card data was used with out their data by Sterling and New Hope to invoice for hospice companies these sufferers didn’t want.”