A Valencia doctor pleaded guilty to federal charges for submitting more than $2.4 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.

Dr. Gary J. Ordog, 61, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Fernando M. Olguin to one count of health care fraud. Judge Olguin is scheduled to sentence Ordog on August 18.

According to admissions made as part of his plea agreement, Ordog, a physician specializing in toxicology, specifically admitted he “submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for purported office visits and other services that the defendant, in fact, never provided, including: (a) purported services for Medicare beneficiaries who were deceased well before the purported dates of services; (b) services purportedly provided to beneficiaries on dates and times when the defendant was, in fact, out of the area, including on dates and times when the defendant was outside of the United States; (c) for dates and times in which the defendant claimed to have provided more than 24 hours of services for that date. Defendant, at times, fabricated patient records to support false and fraudulent claims to Medicare”.

He also specifically admitted that he “submitted and caused the submission of approximately $2,435,089.00 in false and fraudulent claims.”

Despite these admissions, Ordog continues to be fully licensed as a physician to practice medicine in California, despite this case, his guilty plea, and prior disciplinary problems with the Board of Medicine.

His license to practice medicine in California was restricted in April 2015 by a condition in the order setting bail. At the time he was required to submit copies of paper billing with written notes and other supporting documents to the Department of Justice for billing submitted to Medicare.

But the following month the Medical Board of California issued an Order Following Completion of Probation indicating that Ordog had completed probation on prior charges against him and his license was “fully restored and renewed/current status and free of probation requirements, effective March 13, 2015.”

Notwithstanding his serial legal and ethical problems the Board of Medicine currently indicates his license is “Renewed & Current” and Ordog is at this moment free to practice medicine in California despite his admission that he committed a $2.4 fraud. He only agreed as part of his written plea agreement that “Defendant understands and acknowledges that as a result of pleading guilty pursuant to this agreement, defendant will be excluded from Medicare, Medicaid, and all Federal health care programs.”  The California Medical Board seems to be slow to respond in any way to his current admitted multi-million dollar fraudulent medical practice.

According to a report by the Center for Investigative Reporting, providers who have been convicted of fraud, or banned from practicing in one health system, have no problem starting a second career in California’s workers’ compensation system. Perhaps Ordog can join the growing list of refugee physicians who just migrate over to industrial patients for a living.

The HHS-OIG and the California Department of Justice investigated the case, which was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Fraud Section Trial Attorneys Ritesh Srivastava and Niall O’Donnell are prosecuting the case.