BRIEF: Former Orange County lab owner convicted of healthcare fraud

May 03--A former Aliso Viejo man has been convicted of healthcare fraud for submitting bills to insurance companies that sought reimbursement for tests that were never performed.

A jury on Tuesday found Michael Mirando, 40, who resides in Portland, Oregon, guilty of 15 felony counts of healthcare fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

Federal prosecutors said Mirando, who owned Holter Labs, which provided heart-monitoring services with a device called the Holter monitor, submitted millions of dollars in claims for services never performed.

Prosecutors said the lab provided the monitors to doctors, who then prescribed the devices to patients to monitor heart rates.

Mirando would bill the patients' insurance companies for the prescribed tests, but would also submit bills for services never ordered, such as for brain scans and oxygen studies, prosecutors said.

From 2005 through 2016, he submitted tens of thousands of claims, with insurance companies paying at least $2.5 million in fraudulent claims, authorities said.

Mirando faces up to 10 years in prison for each of the 15 counts when he is sentenced on Aug. 21.

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