A Bakersfield chiropractor pleaded guilty to health care fraud on Monday.

Na Young Eoh, 44, was a chiropractor at Pain Relief Medical Health Centers, which was headquartered in Los Angeles and had clinics Los Angeles County as well as in Bakersfield, Visalia, and Fresno.

Eoh pleaded guilty and admitted that she submitted bills to workers’ compensation insurers in which she improperly billed them for medical-legal evaluations which she was not legally permitted to do, according to the Office of the United States Attorney. She faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000

According to a federal indictment returned on July 2, 2015, Eoh, and to other defendants, were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and 15 counts of health care fraud,

Gharib-Danesh was a chiropractor and the manager of Pain Relief Health Centers (PRHC). PRHC was headquartered in Los Angeles, and had clinics in Bakersfield, Visalia and Fresno, as well as in Los Angeles County. Na Young Eoh was also a chiropractor, and was the treating physician for PRHC’s Kern County workers’ compensation claims. John Terrence, 72, of Marina Del Rey, was a clinical psychologist who saw patients from the Bakersfield clinic.

According to the indictment, PRHC recruited patients who were workers claiming to have an injury. In treating the patients, Gharib instructed her staff to add as many injured body parts for treatment as possible to generate higher billings. The treatment plan generally included shock wave therapy, electro stimulation therapy, myo-facial release/massage, physical therapy, chiropractic manipulation, compound creams, and psychological evaluation.

Nearly every patient was scheduled for the same treatments, and the maximum amount of treatments allowed by law was generally billed to the insurance company.

Eoh operated out of the Bakersfield Clinic, the Visalia Clinic, and the Fresno Clinic and would sign the treatment plans and referral forms.

The indictment further alleges that Gharib directed Eoh to refer all patients who came into the clinic to Terrence for a psychological evaluation, regardless of the injury the patient reported. Terrence submitted bills and reports for each patient that were virtually identical. He also allegedly fraudulently billed for patients at a rate higher than legally allowed. According to the indictment,

Terrence provided each patient with approximately 20.8 hours of psychological evaluations in a single day. On one day, Terrence billed a total of 291.2 hours for treating 14 patients. In one period of two weeks, Terrence billed over a thousand hours treating patients and writing reports. Between 2005 and 2012, Terrence submitted claims for psychological services in workers’ compensation cases totaling in excess of $5.6 million.