Anaheim Hills acupuncturist sent to prison for defrauding Amtrak’s healthcare plan

LOS ANGELES — A licensed Anaheim Hills acupuncturist was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison Tuesday for fraudulently billing Amtrak’s healthcare plan for millions of dollars’ worth of acupuncture, massages and facials that either were medically unnecessary or were never provided.

Guiqiong Xiao “Kimi” Gudmundsen, 53, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court in October to one count of healthcare fraud and one count of money laundering.

In addition to the prison time, U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee ordered her to pay nearly $2.7 million in restitution to Amtrak.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Gudmundsen owned Healthy Life Acupuncture Center, which operated in Riverside and Los Angeles. From January 2008 until December 2015, Gudmundsen recruited Amtrak employees to visit Healthy Life and then, among other things, billed the Amtrak healthcare plan for acupuncture, which she knew wasn’t being provided, according to her plea agreement.

She also admitted to billing the health plan for medically unnecessary services such as massages and facials, as well as for work-related injuries she knew the Amtrak plan did not cover. She also provided medical services to non-Amtrak healthcare plan participants then billed the plan for it under the name of an actual Amtrak plan participant, the plea agreement states.

She admitted that she regularly waived co-payments, co-insurance and deductibles for Amtrak healthcare plan participants, something the plan did not permit.

She also knowingly and routinely funneled her ill-gotten gains through bank accounts opened in the names of a shell company and her relatives, according to the plea agreement.

The government estimated the total loss to the Amtrak health plan to be at least $3.8 million.