A Peoria doctor was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to health care fraud earlier this year amounting to about $3.7 million.

Dr. Linh Cao Nguyen, 51,  was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge John C. Hinderaker to 24 months in prison. Nguyen pleaded guilty to health care fraud on March 19.

Over the course of several years, Nguyen engaged in a scheme to defraud various health care benefit programs, including Medicare, Tricare, AHCCCS, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and UnitedHealthcare.

As part of his scheme, Nguyen knowingly caused the submission of thousands of false billing claims, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Nguyen also falsely created patient records to conceal and avoid detection of his fraudulent scheme. The fraudulent claims identified a medical doctor as the treating provider when another provider such as a nurse practitioner, social worker, unlicensed psychology intern, or wound care nurse provided the service independently, the release stated.

By billing the medical service as if it were provided by a physician, Nguyen falsely inflated the amount his company was to be paid for the service, the release stated.

As part of his sentence, Nguyen was ordered to pay over $1.1 million in restitution to the private insurance companies. Nguyen also was required to pay over $2.5 million to the government in a separate civil agreement.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service conducted the investigation in this case. The United States Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.