ST. LOUIS — A doctor, who owns several urgent care facilities in the St. Louis area, and his office manager have both been arrested by the FBI Thursday and are accused of health care fraud.
Dr. Sonny Sagger, 55, and Renita Barringer, 50, were each indicted Wednesday on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of making false statements regarding a health care matter, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. They were both taken into custody and entered a not-guilty plea in court Thursday.
Saggar, Barringer and others conspired to falsify documentation they submitted to Medicare and Medicaid by billing for services completed by assistant physicians (APs) as if Saggar had provided them, despite him being out of town, according to the indictment.
Medical physicians, under Missouri law, must supervise assistant physicians in compliance with a "collaborative practice arrangement" that prohibits APs from providing medical services and limiting their practice areas to underserved communities that have little to no access to healthcare.
Dr. Saggar and Barringer also conned physicians they recruited into signing an undated CPA verification form to fulfill their roles, which led to many APs going untrained, the release said.
Recruited physicians were not present during medical services APs provided to patients -- despite being legally obligated to more than 100 hours of clinic time together before APs can practice on their own, the indictment said. Saggar and Barringer even encouraged APs to not seek training and oversight from physicians above them.
Saggar owned several urgent care locations dating back to 2017, including Downtown Urgent Care LLC, Creve Coeur Urgent Care LLC, and St. Louis General Hospital (SLGH).
The conspiracy charge and the false statements charge are each punishable by up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.