Lilit Baltaian, MD, a former licensed physician from Porter Ranch, Calif., has been sentenced to 54 months in prison for falsifying home health certifications and fraudulently billing Medicare.
Dr. Baltaian is currently a fugitive and was sentenced in absentia, according to a Department of Justice release dated June 12. From approximately January 2012 to July 2018, the court determined that she falsely certified patients for home healthcare from at least four Los Angeles-area home health agencies. The certifications were used by home health agencies to submit fraudulent Medicare claims.
According to the Justice Department, Dr. Baltaian knowingly presigned blank, undated physician certification forms, which the agencies would then falsify to give the impression that she had seen the Medicare beneficiaries and made clinical findings to support their need for home health care, when she had not. Ms. Baltaian received cash for these referrals while billing Medicare separately for signing the fraudulent certifications.
According to Justice, the four agencies submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare totaling nearly $1.5 million during the same time period using Dr. Baltaian’s false certifications. In November 2024, Dr. Baltaian pleaded guilty to one count of healthcare fraud. At her sentencing, she was also ordered to pay $1.49 million in restitution.
