An Anchorage medical doctor and her husband this week entered guilty pleas to federal charges accusing them of $12.5 million in health care fraud and more than $4 million in tax evasion.
Dr. Claribel Kohchet Chua Tan, 61, a rheumatologist, and her husband, Daniel Tan, 70, were indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2024.
Claribel and Daniel Tan entered guilty pleas to charges of health-care fraud and tax evasion during a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.
Magistrate Judge Kyle Reardon said during the hearing that sentencing dates in the case have yet to be set, according to Reagan Zimmerman-Hartzheim, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Alaska.
Tan’s practice specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune and musculoskeletal diseases including rheumatoid arthritis. Daniel Tan handled administrative and management duties at the clinic, located off Lake Otis Parkway and Tudor Road.
The couple deceived patients about injections administered in the office, underdosing them or lying about the type of medication in the shot, according to a plea agreement Clarice Tan signed in late October. They also billed health insurance plans for reimbursement of medications they didn’t purchase.
The couple executed the fraud scheme over a 13-year period from 2010 until 2023, according to last year’s indictment. It also accused Tan of injecting an estimated 400 patients who were deceived “regarding the identity, quantity, and other material facts regarding substances that she injected into their bodies, and administered medications to which patients did not consent.”
Her husband was aware of the injections and helped execute the scheme in part by creating and submitting fraudulent insurance claims and ordering insufficient medication for the clinic, prosecutors say.
The couple has agreed to forfeit more than $10 million in health care fraud proceeds seized by the federal government, according to the plea agreement. They also agreed to pay $6.3 million toward the total restitution as well as more than $1.8 million to settle civil claims under the False Claims Act arising from the health care fraud scheme.
Tan’s signed plea agreement acknowledged that she “knowingly deceived patients regarding the identity and quantity of the substances that she injected into their bodies by, among other things: concealing hypodermic needles beneath a clipboard, or behind her back, to prevent the patient from recognizing the medication was not that which (she) claimed it to be.”
Tan was first licensed to practice medicine in Alaska in 2005. The Alaska State Medical Board suspended her medical license in August 2024, finding she “poses a clear and immediate danger to the public health and safety if she continues to practice.” Tan voluntarily surrendered her license in April.
Prosecutors said victims in the case may provide the court with a written Victim Impact Statement or may also provide a statement in person at sentencing. They asked anyone looking for more information to contact usaak.victimwitness@usdoj.gov at least one week prior to sentencing.