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Yellow Pages
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Yellow Pages
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Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages
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Tuesday, 26 February 2013 23:27 |
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TALLAHASSEE, FL, The R Street Institute, a free-market think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., has issued a press release praising the order by Judge Richard Lazzara of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida dismissing a lawsuit by chiropractors, acupuncturists, and massage therapists that sought to block implementation of reforms passed last year to Florida’s personal injury protection auto insurance system.
In his decision, Lazzara found no basis for the plaintiffs’ claims that, because the law constrains PIP coverage for chiropractors and proscribes it altogether for massage therapists and acupuncturists, they were denied due process and equal protection under the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
“What plaintiffs fail to grasp is that although they do have a state-created property interest in their professional licenses, that interest is only subject to procedural due process protection and not substantive due process protection,” Lazzara wrote, adding that the practitioners’ procedural due process rights are covered by the legislative process that passed the law.
Lazzara added that the statutory restrictions in the PIP reform law do not appear to impinge on the plaintiffs’ liberties to follow their chosen professions. In a press release, R Street Florida Director Christian R. Cámara called the decision a victory for Florida consumers.
“Governor Scott and the Florida Legislature heard the calls from Florida consumers about their runaway auto insurance costs and took action to cut out the fraud and unscrupulous claims that were driving up rates,” Cámara said in the release.
“The federal court did the right thing in upholding those cost-saving, pro-consumer reforms by throwing out this lawsuit. It is unfortunate that opponents of reform who couldn't get their way in the Capitol last year insist on using the courts to legislate on their behalf.”
Lazzara’s decision allowed the plaintiffs to proceed with a separate suit in Florida state court, which he said was in a better position to judge unique claims made under Florida constitutional law. That suit was filed Jan. 9 in Tallahassee in the 2nd Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.
Source: Sunshine State News
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Yellow Pages
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Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages
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Tuesday, 26 February 2013 23:22 |
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Colorado Springs, CO, The Colorado Medical Society filed a lawsuit Monday to halt a rule that would allow chiropractors to administer drugs.
The rule was created by the Chiropractic Board of Examiners and would authorize practitioners to administer drugs topically, orally, by inhalation and injection, after completing 24 hours of study and a certification exam. The board certifies doctors of chiropractic and changed the rule in November. Without action, it will go into effect Jan. 14.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said the changes “exceed the legislative scope of the authority” granted to the board of examiners. And records at the AG’s office show most chiropractors oppose the rule.
“The enactment of the rule exceeds the authority of chiropractors as defined in the Chiropractors Practice Act and intrudes on the practice of medicine by professionals licensed under the Medical Practice Act,” said Susan Koontz, general counsel and senior director of government relations for the Colorado Medical Society.
“Authorizing chiropractors to administer drugs and perform injections threatens irreparable injury to the public welfare and the safety of the patients the members of the Colorado Medical Society serve to protect,” said John Conklin of Martin Conklin, counsel for CMS.
Also opposing the new rule in the lawsuit: Colorado Society of Osteopathic Medicine, Weld County Medical Society, an attorney for several state medical societies, including Creek Valley Medical Society, Aurora-Adams County Medical Society, Denver Medical Society, Mesa County Medical Society, Colorado Radiological Society, Colorado Chapter of American College of Emergency Physicians, Colorado Orthopaedic Society, Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists, Boulder County Medical Society and Larimer County Medical Society.
Source: Colorado Springs Business Journal
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Yellow Pages
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Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages
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Friday, 25 January 2013 04:44 |
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ALGONQUIN, IL– A chiropractor who partly owned six clinics, including one in Algonquin, has been sentenced to 6½ years in federal prison for health care fraud.
Bradley Mattson, 51, of Lake Forest pleaded guilty in September, admitting to a 10-year scheme to defraud Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Between 1999 and 2009, Mattson co-owned the clinics, which included Algonquin Physical Medicine.
According to prosecutors, Mattson submitted nearly $5.9 million for medically unnecessary tests or physical therapy services that were not provided. He collected almost $2.1 million in reimbursements, which he was ordered to repay.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman said Mattson showed “no sensitivity to his patients” and “put many of them through unnecessary stress.”
“Frauds like this all across the country are jacking up the prices of insurance,” Guzman said.
In 2008, an undercover FBI agent visited one of the clinics for treatment of a lower back strain. Despite diagnoses by the clinic’s medical doctor and physical therapist that the agent had a pulled muscle, Mattson diagnosed him with a pinched nerve and put him on a treatment plan that began with daily visits for two weeks.
The other owners of the clinics, Steven Paul, 41, and Neelesh Patel, 37, of Glenview, face charges, as well. Paul is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to health care fraud. Charges against Patel are pending.
Source: Northwest Herald
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Yellow Pages
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Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages
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Friday, 25 January 2013 04:39 |
 HOUSTON, TX—Bryan chiropractor Chase Lindsey, 44, and four other residents are named in a 31-count indictment unsealed Tuesday that charges conspiracy and mail fraud in an alleged scheme to defraud auto insurance companies of more than $3 million, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson said. The indictment, handed up on Nov. 28, names Lindsey, who’s part owner of Lindsey Chiropractic Care in Bryan; Marion Young, 52; Edward Graham, 46; Brittany Jessie, 23, and Earlie Dickerson, 50, who was office manager of the Bryan office of Sanjoh & Associates Law Firm and part-owner along with Young, Graham and Jessie of several other chiropractic clinics in Bryan.
Dickerson and Jessie appeared Tuesday before a U.S. magistrate in Waco and Lindsey and Young appeared before a federal magistrate in Houston.
Lindsey was freed after posting $75,000 bond and Young was ordered to remain in custody pending a detention hearing Wednesday morning.
Graham is expected to appear Wednesday before the magistrate in Houston.
The indictment alleges that Dickerson used his position at the law firm to recruit victims of traffic accidents as clients and then sent them to the clinics he, Young, Graham and Jessie owned or to Lindsey’s clinic.
The indictment says Lindsey, who served as the chiropractor at all four of the clinics, would recommend medically unnecessary therapeutic treatments for the clients whom Dickerson sent in return for about $2,000 a month, which was usually in paid cash.
Then, the indictment says, Lindsey allowed fraudulent bills under his name from the clinics to be submitted by the law firm to various auto insurance companies, which paid the law firm and its clients more than $1.5 million based on the fraudulent claims.
The alleged scheme ran from February 2007 through December 2009, prosecutors said.
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Yellow Pages
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Written by TAC Staff: Yellow Pages
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Friday, 25 January 2013 04:35 |
LOS ANGELES, CA -- Los Angeles County Superior Court is awarding Allstate Insurance Company more than $7 million in a qui tam action filed by the insurer on its behalf and on behalf of the People of the State of California against a Long Beach chiropractor, Daniel H. Dahan, D.C., and his business, Progressive Diagnostic Imaging, Inc., arising out of a scheme to defraud insurance companies.
In the judgment, Superior Court Judge Ernest M. Hiroshige found that Dahan and Progressive Diagnostic Imaging violated the state's Insurance Frauds Prevention Act in 487 claims presented to Allstate in radiology reports that were determined to be "falsified medical records" that "have no diagnostic, clinical, or medical value whatsoever." Hiroshige further concluded that health insurance claim forms and billing statements submitted in connection with the falsified radiology reports were "false and fraudulent."
The judge ordered that Dahan pay Allstate $4,870,000 in civil penalties, $918,516.78 in assessments and $1,222,151.62 in attorney's fees, costs and investigative expenses--$7,010,668.40 in all.
Allstate alleged that Dahan purchased report-writing software that purported to analyze x-rays and form medical opinions and diagnoses, including opinions concerning permanent impairment ratings, and thereafter formed Progressive Diagnostic Imaging to solicit x-rays from chiropractors, with the assurance that "board certified radiologists" would analyze the films.
Allstate further claimed that, unbeknownst to patients and health care providers using Progressive Diagnostic Imaging, Dahan recruited untrained and unlicensed individuals to work with the report-writing software to prepare the fraudulent radiology reports. To make it appear that the reports were genuine, Dahan instructed his "technicians" to cut and paste the signatures of board certified radiologists to the reports, all without the knowledge, approval or authorization of the radiologists. The reports and bills were presented to Allstate in support of claims, either directly by Dahan and Progressive Diagnostic Imaging or by plaintiff attorneys in auto accident cases.
At trial, four radiologists, whose names appeared on reports, testified they never wrote, reviewed, approved or signed the reports.
Beyond the verdict, Hiroshige also issued an injunction prohibiting Dahan from owning, operating or working as an employee in any business engaged in the practice of medicine. And he ordered that letters be sent to all of the affected patients and their referring healthcare providers, to advise them of the Court's findings and judgment, including the Court's order that the reports generated by Dahan and Progressive Diagnostic Imaging are "to be disregarded on the basis that such reports [are] . . . falsified medical record[s]" and have "no diagnostic, clinical or medical value whatsoever," and that "records are not to be considered by any person or entity as part of the . . . patient's medical history, medical record, or medical chart at any time and for any purpose."
Source: Allstate Corporation
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