US Attorney Eric Grant has announced that Felipe Ruiz, a podiatrist at West Coast Podiatry Inc. (WCP), and Jose Gabriel Aguirre of Clovis, a “skin substitute” sales representative, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Between June 2021 and January 2024, Ruiz purchased “skin substitutes” from Aguirre and permitted Aguirre, who was not a licensed health care provider, to apply them to Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries. According to court documents, patients reportedly called Mr. Aguirre “Dr. Gabe,” even though he wasn’t a doctor. Ruiz submitted claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal claiming that he had performed the procedures, resulting in millions of dollars of payments to Ruiz who then distributed a cut to Aguirre Local podiatrist and sales representative indicted for fraud – Mid Valley Times.
Aguirre was a sales representative for several different skin sub companies and used his name, his wife’s name, and the name of a corporation registered to his wife to sell the products. The men are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on Jan. 20, 2026 and face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Related post:
Additional Resources:
- The Antikickback Statute (AKS), Skin Substitute Pricing & “Selling the Spread” – Guest Blog by David Traskey – Caroline Fife M.D.
- The Devil is in the (Contractual) Details: Avoiding Potential Kickbacks in the World of Skin Substitutes (Guest Blog by David Traskey) – Caroline Fife M.D.
Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/carolinefifemd/videos
The opinions, comments, and content expressed or implied in my statements are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the position or views of Intellicure or any of the boards on which I serve.
This lowers the DPM speciality. Just takes one and all are guilty. Then to allow a representative to actually place product on patients! Hard to believe this Dr would allow. I guess follow the money!!
Almost as bad as the thousands of nurse practitioners practicing outside of their scopes of practice and then billing Medicare and Medicaid for surgical debridements. State of Louisiana State Board of Nursing requires advanced US Board of Education recognized college credentialed education and formal (and nationally recognized) certification by Association of First Assistant RN’s and APRNs to perform any surgical procedures involving “cutting through flesh.”
Louisiana State Board scope of practice rules permit nurse practitioners in that state to perform selective debridements only.
I personally followed a nurse practitioner that performed 11 bone level surgical debridements in an LTACH setting week after week, without ANY surgeon or physician overseeing her.
Nurse practitioner scope of practice, and bedside surgical debridement, is the next shoe that needs to drop in the fungating wound care industry.