Attorney General Mark Brnovich says an additional 44 people have been served on current or former employees of the Kokopelli Eye Institute in the case against Dr. Michael Lee Ham, an eye surgeon with Kokopelli who was recently indicted for an alleged fraudulent billing scheme.
According to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, many defendants are charged with Conspiracy and with Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, while others also face charges of Illegally Conducting an Enterprise, Participating in a Criminal Syndicate and Theft.
Allegedly the additional defendants assisted Ham in a variety of ways to falsify patients’ medical records for the purpose of inducing government agencies and third-party insurers to pay for cataract and other eye surgeries on patients of Kokopelli Eye Care from 2009 through the Fall of 2018. It is possible some patients had cataract surgeries that were not medically necessary.
Kokopelli Eye Institute’s public relations team released the following statement on Friday: “Dr. Michael Ham is a longstanding and trusted caregiver in the community for more than 20 years. At Kokopelli Eye Institute, patients are our number one priority. We remain open and our medical staff, including Dr. Ham, continues to provide quality care for our patients. We will vigorously oppose these charges and we believe we will ultimately be vindicated.”
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Defendant Laura Crain, a long-time employee of Kokopelli Eye Institute, is also charged with Facilitation to Commit Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, and with Criminal Impersonation for her alleged participation in illegally obtaining a prescription-only drug at the direction of Dr. Ham. It is alleged that Crain, in conjunction with Dr. Ham, obtained medication from a pharmacy in Prescott Valley in August and November of 2016 under the name of a person who did not consent to, nor was aware of, a prescription being written in her name.
Dr. Ham was arrested on January 2nd in Prescott Valley. He appeared in court for his arraignment on Monday, January 13, 2019, in Yavapai County Superior Court. He is charged with Conspiracy, Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, Illegal Control of an Enterprise, Theft, and Money Laundering violations for allegedly defrauding Medicare, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), as well as several private health insurers.