Studio City Clinic Owner Faces Prison In $11M Sleep Scam

LOS ANGELES, CA — The owner of a Studio City clinic faces sentencing Thursday morning for her role in a scheme that resulted in more than $11 million in charges submitted to medical benefit programs for unnecessary or sometimes never-performed sleep studies.

Anna Vishnevsky, 51, of Valley Village pleaded guilty last year to one federal count of health care fraud. The owner of Atlas Diagnostic Services helped recruit so-called patients by offering cash in exchange for participating in sleep study testing, according to papers filed in Los Angeles federal court.

Vishnevsky and co-defendant Eddie Hernandez also offered additional cash to those who brought dependents and referred co-workers to participate in the scheme.

Hernandez, 46, of Torrance, who worked as a driver for United Parcel Service, was sentenced in April to two and a half years in federal prison for his role in the scheme.

The defendants recruited patients knowing that no doctor had prescribed sleep study testing for them, and regardless of whether the testing was medically necessary.

Vishnevsky failed to score or interpret the data from the testing, or provide it to anyone who could score or interpret it, which is necessary for diagnosis and treatment, according to prosecutors.

Investigators believe that the defendants helped submit more than $11 million in fraudulent claims, most of which related to beneficiaries of the UPS and Costco health care benefit programs.

City News Service