Dr. Sonny Saggar Arrested on Health Care Fraud Charges

The physician operates two 24/7 Healthcare locations in the St. Louis area

Jul 27, 2023 at 3:50 pm

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Photo credit 24/7 Healthcare

Sonny Saggar photo from 24/7 Healthcare website.

A St. Louis physician who operates multiple urgent cares as well as a south city hospital was arrested by federal authorities today on conspiracy charges. Prosecutors allege that patients at Dr. Sonny Saggar's healthcare facilities were attended to by people who were assistant physicians not under proper supervision.

According to an indictment filed yesterday against Saggar, his medical offices made wide use of assistant physicians, who have graduated from medical school and have passed the United States Medical Licensing Examination, but have not completed a postgraduate residency.

Saggar owns two 24/7 Healthcare locations, one on Olive Street in downtown St. Louis and the other on Olive Boulevard in Creve Coeur. Briefly the CEO of St. Alexius Hospital before his public firing, Saggar has also owned St. Louis General Hospital in south city in 2017, according to the indictment.

Assistant physicians are allowed to practice medicine in a limited sense, but only in close collaboration with a medical doctor and in areas that are underserved or as part of a pilot program. A doctor may not work with no more than six assistant physicians at any one time.

The indictment states that Saggar has had at least 39 assistant physicians working at his clinics since 2018 and that he advertised the jobs as a "stepping stone" for aspiring doctors who hadn't been able to secure residencies.

In actuality, the indictment says, the assistant physicians rarely met with Saggar and did not get required training.

Saggar is accused of billing Medicare and Medicaid for patient visits as if the patient had been seen by Saggar, when in fact they were seen by an assistant physician. Some of the work the practice claimed was done by Saggar was done when he was out of town.

In October 2019, Saggar allegedly emailed a medical doctor, identified in court paperwork as only L.H., and asked if they would be willing to serve as the collaborating physician for a group of assistant physicians at one of Saggar's locations in exchange for $480 a month.

L.H. inquired what they would have to do and Saggar wrote back: "Nothing. Except sign the form."

Saggar's office manager Renita Barringer was also arrested and is facing the same charges. Both have pleaded not guilty.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that assistant physicians working at Saggar's clinics had not passed the United States Medical Licensing Examination and were not doctors. In Missouri, assistant physicians have completed Step 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination.We regret the error.