Chiropractor Joserodel Zavala Candelario, an Irvine resident, was sentenced in federal court to 36 months in federal custody for his participation in two huge health care fraud schemes, one involving the California Worker’s Compensation system, and for concealing income he received from those multi-million dollar schemes.

He was the owner of Candelario Chiropractic, a Professional Corporation, and R.I.S.E. Medical Center, a Professional Corporation, dba R.I.S.E. Wellness Center, which operated at multiple locations in the Southern District of California, including at 5030 Bonita Road, Suite B, in Bonita and at 3231 Waring Road, Suite N, in Oceanside.

Candelario pleaded guilty on January 21, 2020 to a three-count superseding information, charging Conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349, and False Statement on Tax Return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1).

In addition, between March 2012 and November 2015, Candelario carried on an unlawful cross-referral scheme, in which he would receive new Workers’ Compensation patients for RISE Wellness. In return for new patients, Candelario agreed to meet a quota for the “value” of ancillary services and DME he was expected to prescribe for each patient sent to him by co-conspirators, with a “value” — such as $30-$50 per MRI referral — set by those conspirators.

As part of the scheme, Candelario, who could function as a WC primary care provider, dictated the same treatment plan for all WC patients, regardless of their individual medical needs, so he could fraudulently bill WC insurers.

Candelario admitted that he violated his duty of honest services to his patients. He received approximately 529 new WC patients as a result of the scheme, and he submitted approximately $6,605,364 in bills to insurers for services rendered to those patients. Of those billed amounts, he was paid $771,000 by WC insurers

Separately, he has been charged and has pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court case SCD281328 to Concealing an Event Affecting an Insurance Claim, in a violation of California Penal Code 550(b)(3).

Candelario carried out a scheme to defraud Medicare and TRICARE out of millions of dollars by using physical therapy codes to bill for supposed physical therapy services performed on patients by individuals who were not licensed to provide physical therapy, including chiropractors, massage therapists, physical therapy aides, and an acupuncturist.

Candelario and his co-conspirators told patients that RISE Wellness offered an “integrated” approach to wellness, to convince patients to accept physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic, and diagnostic services at RISE Wellness, in order to fraudulently bill for non-covered services provided by unauthorized individuals, and collect as much money as possible from health care benefit programs.

Once patients came in the door, the defendant pushed his staff to conduct diagnostic tests on every patient, regardless of medical necessity, to increase billing and payment, and he also demanded that staff meet quotas for the minimum number of diagnostic tests, and recommendations for durable medical equipment, or DME, massages and other services, regardless of whether specific patients needed the items and services.

He also imposed quotas for the minimum number of patients with specific types of insurance coverage at RISE Wellness, e.g., “60 Tricare patients per day,” regardless of whether those patients needed treatments.

For example, on June 6, 2014, Candelario instructed a staff member, “I need you to do 5 axonii [diagnostic tests] a day no matter what for now on.” The following month, on July 7, 2014, Candelario texted, “OK team you are receiving 2 new diagnostic testing devices this month. I need 20 patients to be tested on each one this month no matter What [sic].”

To increase billing and payment, the defendant pushed the schedulers to cram in as many as 50 patients per day for each provider. He complained when staff fell short of this goal, noting, on June 11, 2015, certain “front desk issues” including: “No[one] has called any patients to fill empty slots in provider schedules or grab patients in lobbies to put into provider schedules.”

If a patient failed to show up for an appointment, Candelario directed staff to bill the health care benefit program for the visit, even though no visit had occurred and no service had been provided. For example, on March 9, 2015, Candelario wrote, about late reimbursements, that “the only solution is to start billing the missed appointments like i asked following the system.”

It was part of the scheme that, using the mean and manners described above, and others, the co-conspirators submitted and caused to be submitted at least $7,260,327.20 in false and fraudulent bills to TRICARE and Medicare. Of those fraudulent bills, TRICARE paid a total of $3,450,596.43 and Medicare paid $37,843.04.

Candelario failed to pay his fair share of taxes on the funds he fraudulently took, resulting in $505,000 in tax losses just for tax year 2013.