SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The founder and former CEO of a chain of Central Valley rural health clinics will sell 13 properties, remitting proceeds to the United States and the state of California, to resolve allegations that she submitted millions of dollars in false claims to Medi‑Cal, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced on Thursday.
The Civil and Criminal Divisions of the U.S. Attorney’s Office conducted parallel investigations of Sandra Haar, the founder and chief executive officer of Horisons Unlimited. As a result of the criminal investigation, on Aug. 13, 2018, Haar pleaded guilty to defrauding Medi-Cal and on Nov. 4, 2019, was sentenced to five years in prison.
Horisons Unlimited was a nonprofit that provided health and dental services at eight clinics in Merced and surrounding communities. Between Jan. 1, 2014, and March 2017, Haar billed Medi‑Cal through Horisons for various false and fraudulent claims, including claims for services rendered by unlicensed providers, claims for services that were not rendered at all, claims for office visits that consisted of nothing more than patients picking up controlled substances in plastic baggies in retail parking lots, and claims for unnecessary services. In addition, Haar received illegal kickbacks from an account executive at a Southern California lab. In exchange, Haar directed that lab testing for Horisons’ Medi-Cal patients be conducted at the lab.