SAMANTHA HURTADO ESSENBERG, NP

NPI 1033875109, individual, Bakersfield, CA, Nurse Practitioner

Evidence tier

impossible volume with concurrency

Billed more hands-on hours than a day holds in 2 months, peaking at 44.1 hour per day across 4 billing organizations.

score 81 of 100, rank 741, $386K at stake

Hours billed per day

Medicaid billing converted into hours of hands-on care per day. The lower bound counts one unit per claim line and needs no price; the other two divide dollars by a unit price, the conservative one at 1.5 times the price. The clinician on the claim may be a supervisor under state rules, so billing organizations are counted too.

month	what was found	hours per day, lower bound	hours per day, at price	hours per day, conservative	per working day	patients	billing organizations	codes	paid
Sep 2024	More hours than a day holds at a conservative unit price	5.5	66.1	44.1	62.9	445	1	99203 99213 99214	$61K
Oct 2024	More hours than a day holds at a conservative unit price	5.8	36.8	24.5	33.1	386	2	99203 99204 99213 99214	$52K

National provider registry

From the CMS NPPES Registry, refreshed daily.

Name	SAMANTHA HURTADO ESSENBERG, NP (also SAMANTHA HURTADO)
Type	Individual, sole proprietor
Status	Active
NPI issued	November 12, 2021, last updated June 28, 2022
Practice location	4325 BUENA VISTA RD, Bakersfield, CA 93311-8701, 661-410-1010
Mailing address	5508 SISKEN AVE, Bakersfield, CA 93311-9544
Specialties	Nurse Practitioner (363L00000X, primary, license 95019142 CA)

Procedures billed

The specific codes behind the dollars. Medicaid figures come from T-MSIS (2018 to 2024) and are compared with every other provider billing the same code; Medicare figures come from the 2024 physician and supplier file and compare this provider's submitted charge with what Medicare allowed, against the usual ratio for that code.

Medicaid, largest codes

code	what it is	paid	share	per patient-month	typical	rank among providers
99213	Established patient office or other outpatient visit with low level od decision making, if using time, 20 minutes or more	$256K	45%	$107	$44 (top 5% from $110)	95th percentile
99214	Established patient office or other outpatient visit with moderate level of decision making, if using time, 30 minutes or more	$123K	22%	$97	$60 (top 5% from $133)	84th percentile
87633	Detection test by nucleic acid for multiple types of respiratory virus, multiple types or subtypes, 12-25 targets	$110K	19%	$373	$198 (top 5% from $548)	81st percentile
99203	New patient office or other outpatient visit with low level of medical decision making, if using time, 30 minutes or more	$49K	9%	$129	$67 (top 5% from $121)	96th percentile
99204	New patient office or other outpatient visit with moderate level of medical decision making, if using time, 45 minutes or more	$9K	2%	$107	$95 (top 5% from $171)	too few months to rank
96110	Medicaid service code	$6K	1%	$71	$10 (top 5% from $38)	too few months to rank
94640	Inhalation treatment for airway obstruction or sputum production	$6K	1%	$5.08	$14 (top 5% from $192)	21st percentile
99393	Medicaid service code	$5K	1%	$119	$78 (top 5% from $121)	too few months to rank

Medicare Part B 2024, largest codes

code	what it is	services	beneficiaries	paid	submitted per service	allowed per service	charge to allowed	usual for this code
99350	Residence visit for established patient with high level of medical decision making, per day, if using time, at least 60 minutes	17	16	$2K	$185	$155	1.2x	1.9x (90th percentile 3.3x)
99443	Telephone medical discussion with physician, 21-30 minutes	13	13	$961	$131	$110	1.2x	2.2x (90th percentile 4.0x)
99348	Residence visit for established patient with low level of medical decision making, per day, if using time, at least 30 minutes	13	13	$484	$77	$64	1.2x	2.1x (90th percentile 3.6x)

A submitted charge many times the allowed amount is common and lawful; it matters when it is far above what other providers submit for the same code.

In this area

150 providers in Kern County, CA carry an indicator in the public record, with $131.2M at stake between them. The most common is more hours than a day holds, on 131 of them, followed by part of a provider network on 17. 2 are tier 1: documented action, then payment.

tier	provider	at stake	why
1	JANARDHAN GRANDHE MD A MEDICAL CORPORATION Bakersfield, CA, ranked 101	$269K	Listed on the Medicare revocation list since October 14, 2022. Medicaid still paid claims in 17 later months, $268,801 in total.
1	JANARDHAN GRANDHE Bakersfield, CA, ranked 117	$174K	Listed on the CA Medicaid exclusion list and the Medicare revocation list since October 14, 2022. Medicaid still paid claims in 8 later months, $173,578 in total.
2	JANELE SHAFER Bakersfield, CA, ranked 737	$488K	Billed more hands-on hours than a day holds in 5 months, peaking at 36.0 hours per day across 6 billing organizations.
2	NAVNEET KAUR Bakersfield, CA, ranked 743	$325K	Billed more hands-on hours than a day holds in 3 months, peaking at 29.4 hours per day across 3 billing organizations.
2	RIPON DEEP KAUR Bakersfield, CA, ranked 747	$235K	Billed more hands-on hours than a day holds in 1 month, peaking at 26.8 hours per day across 3 billing organizations.
3	D A HEALTH CARE SERVICES Bakersfield, CA, ranked 807	$243K	Part of provider network D1-00023, ranked 23 nationally. Medicaid dollars per patient on code G0151 ($703 per patient-month) sit in the top 5% of every provider billing that code.
3	KERN HOSPICE CARE, INC Bakersfield, CA, ranked 1021	$1.3M	Part of provider network D1-00019, ranked 19 nationally.
3	WESTERN HEALTH RESOURCES Bakersfield, CA, ranked 1147	$502K	Part of provider network D1-00071, ranked 71 nationally.

All 150 in CA

Recent enforcement in CA

All releases

Department of Justice and HHS-OIG releases for this state, newest first. Each opens in a new tab.

DOJPleaded guiltyAug 27, 2026

Anaheim Woman Pleads Guilty to Submitting More Than $2.2 Million in Fraudulent Hospice Care Claims to Medicare

Galbraith submitted approximately $2,266,694 in claims to Medicare for hospice services for beneficiaries who did not have a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less, and Medicare paid her company approximately $2,140,606.

DOJCivil settlementAug 26, 2026

DermTech Inc. to Pay Up to $5M to Resolve Allegations It Submitted False Claims to Medicare for Unreliable Skin Cancer Tests

DermTech Inc. submitted claims to Medicare for skin cancer tests conducted with an unvalidated positive control range and for tests lacking sufficient patient RNA, and did not retract results or adequately refund Medicare.

DOJCivil settlementAug 26, 2026

DermTech Inc. to Pay Up to $5M to Resolve Allegations It Submitted False Claims to Medicare for Unreliable Skin Cancer Tests

DermTech Inc. billed Medicare for skin cancer tests conducted using an unvalidated positive control range and for tests with insufficient patient RNA, and did not retract the results or adequately refund Medicare.

DOJCivil settlementAug 24, 2026

Medicare Advantage Provider Monogram Health Agrees to Pay $2.4 Million to Settle False Claims Act Lawsuit

Monogram knowingly submitted diagnosis codes in four HCCs that were not clinically accurate, not supported by medical record documentation, and/or did not require or affect patient care, inflating Medicare Advantage beneficiaries' risk scores and causing CMS to make higher capitated payments to Medicare Advantage Organizations.

DOJCivil settlementAug 24, 2026

Medicare Advantage Provider Monogram Health Agrees to Pay $2.4M to Settle False Claims Act Suit

Monogram Health knowingly submitted diagnosis codes within four HCCs that were not clinically accurate, not supported by medical record documentation, and/or did not require or affect patient care, inflating Medicare Advantage beneficiaries' risk scores and causing CMS to make higher capitated payments to MAOs.

Referral packet

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