Category: Yellow Pages

Chiropractor Attacked for Advertising Claims
Associated with DRX-9000 in California
CALIFORNIA:     A Danville chiropractor has been pushing a device via his website to thousands of chiropractors with false claims that it’s approved by the FDA and endorsed by NASA, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office said in a news release.
Dr. Benjamin Altadonna made or caused to be made a traction device which he “sold or leased for between $90,000 and $115,000,” according to the complaint. He advertised the device with deceptive claims as the “DRX9000 New Cash Patient Marketing System” or the “DRX9000 Spinal Decompression Lead Generation and Conversion Marketing System,” the State said.
“Many different counties joined in on the lawsuit and decided to file it [in Alameda County,” said D.A. Teresa Drenick. Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Solano, and Sonoma counties are all part of the civil complaint.
In 2006, the D.A. said, Altadonna made claims that “the DRX was a patented device having FDA approval or that it was used in a valid scientific study that demonstrated an 86 percent success rate in treating medical conditions like spinal herniation… that the DRX was affiliated with, endorsed or approved by NASA.” The state of Oregon also fined Altadonna for similar things in 2007, the D.A. said, noting Altadonna does business as Doctor’s Wealth Creators and other names.
According to Altadonna, he entered into a stipulated agreement with Oregon’s attorney general in 2007, requiring the chiropractor to change his marketing practices and provide “reliable scientific evidence such as tests, analysis, research, studies…based on the expertise of professionals in the relevant area” to back up his claims, which Altadonna neglected to do.
Altadonna, under the umbrella Altadonna Communications Inc. (ACI) paid civil restitution as part of the agreement.
But, according to the Alameda County D.A., Altadonna is again using pseudonyms to sell and disseminate “thousands of marketing plans to thousands of licensed health care professionals inside and outside the State of California.”
After meeting with the Monterey County D.A. in 2006, Altadonna began transferring assets to co-defendants Altadonna Living Trust and Diablo Park LLC, the state said.
California is seeking an injunction and penalties for false advertising, unfair competition, fraudulent transfer of assets and violations of the Business and Professions Code.
While the next court date and judge have not been assigned, Scott Patton, one of the prosecuting D.A.s, says there is no chance that Altadonna will go to jail.
“Since this is a civil complaint…the court will usually order injunctive terms and (Altadonna) will have to conduct business a certain way and may have to pay restitution if there are injured parties.”
Danville Express

Probation for Chiropractor in Insurance Fraud
PENNSYLVANIA:  A Bucks County chiropractor who participated in a scheme to bilk Independence Blue Cross of almost $2 million was sentenced recently to three years’ probation and ordered to perform 450 hours of community service.
U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter gave Dr. Raymond W. Brozek, 57, of Telford, a big break after Assistant U.S. Attorney Anita Eve filed a motion for leniency based on “substantial” assistance from Brozek that led to charges against others.
Two other defendants in the case—Michael Karp and Mark Levin—were sentenced to prison terms of six months and a year and a day, respectively, in September and November.
Brozek, who is no longer practicing and likely faces suspension of his license, is working as a chauffeur. He admitted lately that he had made a “terrible, terrible mistake.”
Authorities said Levin, 65, and Karp, 39, who is Levin’s son-in-law, owned Hatfield Athletic Club and Rehab One, a chiropractic office at the club.
The men hired Brozek to work there from 2004 to 2006. Levin demanded that Hatfield workers be seen by Brozek as often as possible so he could bill IBC, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Brozek followed his superiors’ directions and caused fraudulent bills to be submitted for treatments either he didn’t perform or that weren’t medically necessary.
Authorities said Brozek also prepared bogus bills that were used to submit claims to IBC that represented services provided to Hatfield workers, who were encouraged and forced to sign Rehab One’s patient log regardless of whether they were treated.
At the direction of Karp and Levin, Brozek created office notes and other documents that included fictitious procedure codes and false depictions of symptoms and clinical findings, which were used to prepare bills submitted to IBC.
Authorities said the defendants submitted almost $2 billion worth of medical bills to IBC, resulting in payments from IBC of $399,882.
The three defendants must make a combined restitution of $399,822 to IBC.
Philadelphia Daily News

Double Hand Transplant for Burnt Chiropractor Successful

LOUISVILLE, KY.:  The recipient of a rare double hand transplant says he feels “fantastic” and can wiggle fingers on both his new hands.

Richard Edwards made his first appearance on Thursday, about a week after he underwent a nearly 18-hour transplant procedure at a hospital in Louisville.The 55-year-old chiropractor from Edmond, Okla., had his hands severely burned in a fire in 2006.
Edwards was the nation’s third double hand transplant recipient. The surgery was performed at Jewish Hospital, the site of the world’s first successful hand transplant in 1999.
Doctors say Edwards’ progress is ahead of other patients because they were able to route his existing nerves into the donor hands. Edwards lost seven fingers after his accident but retained most of his original hands, though they were badly burned.
Source: Huffington Post

Illegal Search Warrant Exonerates Chiropractor on Drug Charges

BOWLING GREEN, OH–The Sixth District Court of Appeals has overturned a conviction of a local chiropractor. The Doc was originally charged with allowing drug abuse in her home.
Huntington entered the plea after a motion to suppress evidence, filed in August 2009, was denied by a Bowling Green Municipal Court. At issue was a search warrant filed and executed while the chiropractor was away from her home. The warrant was obtained when a friend who was feeding her cat gave police permission to enter the chiropractors home.
While at the home of the chiropractor “feeding the cat”, the friend found items which led him to contact the police, who then obtained a warrant. The appeals court ruled that the friend “merely had (the chiropractors) permission to enter the kitchen to feed the cats on three separate days; the cat feeders presence in appellant’s house could reasonably be expected to amount to no more than five or 10 minutes on each occasion.”
The Judge that granted the warrant presided at the chiropractor’s plea agreement.
The appeals court added that her friend was not staying in the house overnight and he was not given authority over the premises.
“We find that appellant’s home was searched illegally and that the trial court therefore erred by denying appellant’s motion to suppress,” the panel of three judges concurred.
They ruled in favor of the chiropractor’s appeal and sent the matter back to the municipal court.
Source: The Sentinel-Tribune

Chiropractor wins $6.3 Million in Judgement Against the State Board

INDEPENDENCE, MO–A chiropractor in Missouri has won a $6.3 million judgment in his case against former members of the Missouri State Board of Chiropractic Examiners for suspending his license.
The case stems from accusations that a chiropractor, who ended up leaving Missouri after the accusations, had convinced a Mennonite farmer with AIDS that he was cured and could start a family.
The patient died and left behind a wife and daughter, each with HIV infections. From the beginning, the chiropractor has denied that he ever said the patient had overcome HIV.
After the case came to light in stories published in The Kansas City Star, the chiropractic board suspended the chiropractor’s license for two years — although that suspension was set aside pending appeals that the chiropractor ultimately won in 2002. The board could have tried again to impose its penalties, but it never did, and the chiropractor’s departure from the state would have made disciplinary action moot.
But he filed suit against the former board members in 2005 to collect legal fees and losses to his business. That case went to trial last week. In a 9-3 verdict, the Cole County jury awarded damages of $6,284,759.
Attorney General Chris Koster’s office represented the board members, and a spokesman said the state planned to file a post-trial motion to have the verdict set aside. The chiropractor’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.
The case stretches back 20 years, when the patient whent to the chiropractor’s office several times beginning in 1990.
The patient was a member of a Mennonite sect from north-central Missouri, had hemophilia and contracted the AIDS virus from tainted blood products. He died in 1992.
At dispute in the case is whether the chiropractor told the patient that the treatments cured him of AIDS.
The chiropractor won his appeal in 2002 in large part because a court said he had not been given access to key pieces of evidence. One was testimony the deceased patients widow, which was given in an unrelated lawsuit involving tainted blood that caused the patients AIDS. The chiropractor argued that testimony in that case would vary from the widow’s testimony that chiropractor said the patient was cured.
The chiropractors’ suit also contended that the chiropractic board seemed to overlook a religious anointing ceremony at the patient’s church which was held in hopes of curing him, and the urging made by the minister at his wedding that the patient start a family. The chiropractor suggested those factors might have led the couple to believe patient was cured or to conceive a child even if he remained HIV-positive.
The jury’s verdict came against six former members of the chiropractor board — Lawrence Gerstein, Charlotte Hill, Mary Holyoke, Charles Klinginsmith, Larry Lovejoy and Lee Richardson. Ordinarily, members of such boards are immune from civil suits for their official duties. But there is an exception when a court finds they acted with gross negligence. Still, the state’s legal expense fund will ultimately cover any damages.
Source: The Kansas City Star

N.J. High Court to Hear

Chiropractors’ Appeal

NEW JERSEY: The State Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of a lower-court decision out of Ocean County, NJ, that has barred chiropractors statewide from performing procedures they had been doing for decades and are allowed to perform in the 49 other states.

Among cases posted in mid-October on the state Judiciary’s Web site that the state’s highest court has agreed to hear was one brought by patient Carol Bedford against chiropractors Anthony L. Riello and Peter E. Lowenstein and Coastal Chiropractic.

A decision in April by a panel of judges with the Appellate Division of state Superior Court ruled in the case that the state law governing chiropractic care limits chiropractors to performing adjustments of the spinal column. The ruling outlawed adjustments to extremities and other joints, which chiropractors had been doing for decades and are allowed to do in the 49 other states.

The decision is not only impacting the businesses of many of the state’s 2,500 chiropractors, but also is affecting their patients, who have come to rely on extremity adjustments but can no longer have the procedures done in the state, according to the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors (ANJC) .

Following the appellate court decision, the defendant chiropractors appealed, and the association filed a brief in support of the appeal. The Supreme Court, in late September, granted certification to hear the appeal.

Since the appellate decision, the association had collected signatures of more than 30,000 patients supporting the practice of extremity adjustments.

The ANJC has been addressing the lower-court ruling on two fronts: supporting the appeal and also lobbying to change the law to allow for extremity adjustments. A statute that would do that was passed in the Assembly on June 21, the Legislature’s last day in session before the summer break. But the Senate sent it to its Commerce Committee, where it still sits.

Asbury Park Press

Chiropractor Gets Jail Time for

Not Filing Tax Returns

FLORIDA: A Vero Beach chiropractor was sentenced to eleven months in prison in late October after being convicted of failing to file income tax returns, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Stephen J. Short Jr. was convicted after a three-day trial in July of four counts of willfully failing to file returns. Prosecutors said he didn’t file returns in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004 and earned an annual income between $87,000 and $124,000 during that time.

Short faced up to a year in prison on each count. After he completes the prison time, Short will spend one year on supervised release and U.S. District Judge Donald Graham ordered him to pay the Internal Revenue Service $47,000 in restitution.

TCPalm

From the “Different Strokes” Department….

GEORGIA: A Columbus chiropractor who pleaded guilty to not filing his income taxes received probation recently in federal court. Robert D. Ressmeyer, 68, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land to three years probation on two counts of failure to file a federal income tax return. The chiropractor, who could have faced 12 to 18 months in prison, had pleaded guilty in June and remained free on bond.

“Your honor, I have no excuse that I can render for the situation I got myself into,” Ressmeyer told the judge. “I apologize for the grief I got my family into. My fervent prayer is that I be allowed to continue my practice.”

Ressmeyer was accused of not filing a federal tax return for the years 2000 and 2002 on $163,335 and $176,145 in annual incomes, respectively. The government contends that the operator of Ressmeyer Chiropractic Life Center hadn’t filed a return since 1997, and Ressmeyer agreed in his plea agreement that he didn’t pay $152,084 in taxes between 1998 and 2003.

Ressmeyer’s attorney, Richard Childs, said his client’s failure to file taxes started out small and could have been corrected in the beginning. However, the problem grew until it reached the point of a guilty plea and sentencing in federal court.

“He’s a good man who did a bad thing,” Childs said.

Childs estimated that Ressmeyer owes between $250,000-$300,000 in back taxes and interest.

Explaining that federal sentencing guidelines called for 12 to 18 months in prison, Land said that would be inconsistent with the goals of sentencing.

Prison time, Land said, wouldn’t protect the public or impose a healthy respect for the law.

Assistant U.S. Attorney George Christian said he would speak with tax authorities before deciding whether to appeal the sentence.

Ledger-enquirer.com

TAC Publisher Released After

Accepting Government’s Offer

ALABAMA: Dr. Richard E. Busch Jr., the publisher of The American Chiropractor magazine, who was in custody of the U.S. government as reported in this magazine (June 2007), recently struck a deal with the Federal Government by accepting a charge of one count of conspiring to sell unregistered securities in the state of Alabama. Busch was released August 29th and ordered to pay $5.6 million in restitution.

Busch observed, “The experience was a ‘blessing in disguise.’ I lost 50 pounds, my blood pressure is back to normal and the creativity in me for the magazine and other projects that I am involved in has grown.”

This case dated back to 1999. Busch also advised, “Be careful who your partners and associates are in all your business deals!” Judge Karen Bowdre noted before the court the many letters received that bore witness to Dr. Busch’s character and ethics and also to the fact that he has a previously stellar record regarding the U.S. legal system.

Busch was represented by Thomas Spina and Joe Mc Lean, two of Birmingham’s best lawyers, whose legal briefs also attest to Dr. Busch’s intent, integrity, credibility, reliability and his reputation in the community as being a family man, married for 40 years to his college sweetheart, with 6 children and 10 grandchildren.

In an ironic twist, Busch, as Publisher of The American Chiropractor, has been the impetus behind its Yellow Page section since it’s inception, to caution chiropractors as to what NOT to do.

Sometimes it pays to settle…

ILLINOIS: A Bloomington chiropractor says he decided to pay damages in a sexual harassment case so he could move on and prevent any action against his chiropractic license. Michael Peffer was scheduled to go before an arbitrator after a former employee, Tandy Lewis, sued to recover $12,000 the city’s human relations commission ordered to be paid. The employee accused Peffer of making suggestive comments and asking her questions about a man she was dating and had since married.

Lewis says she was then fi red for confronting Peffer about his behavior. Peffer initially vowed to fi ght the ruling but now says he’s paying her and the city to avoid a larger legal bill.

 

Peffer says Lewis and her attorney threatened to fi le a complaint with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which could have cost him much more in legal fees to keep his chiropractic license. That license is already probationary because it had been suspended in Missouri for billing improprieties.

WJBC

Chiropractor Sentenced for

Mail Fraud & Securities Fraud

NORTH CAROLINA: Chiropractor Joe C. Minder, who was found guilty in January of defrauding more than 50 people of hundreds of thousands of dollars, has been sentenced to five years in a federal prison. As part of the sentence he was ordered to pay $1.79 million in restitution and was placed on probation for two years, U.S.

Attorney Robert Hamilton said. A co-defendant in the case, William Martin McNulty Sr., was also sentenced to fi ve years in a federal prison.

In total, Hamilton said more than 150 people were defrauded by Minder and McNulty through a loan program, called TFH Inc. As part of the loan program, investors would send a check or cash to McNulty through an online banking service. The money was then accessed by a wealthy European investor, known to investors only as “Donald,” who traded in fi nancial instruments that produced high-yielding returns in a short period.

This “Donald,” who Minder said McNulty described as a humanitarian, was particularly interested in helping religious people. During Minder’s trial in January, it was established that “Donald” did not exist.

Many of the victims in the case were people who knew Minder through church or his practice and that he recruited into the program as early as 2001. Evidence presented during the trial showed that Minder continued referring people to the program even when he knew things were not going well. Minder also kept receiving the 10-percent commission he was due for every amount invested, even when investors were not getting the returns promised. Some of these payments were checks made payable to fi ctitious people that Minder then endorsed and cashed at a check cashing store.

Minder argued during trial that he believed the program to be legitimate and never intended to defraud anyone. He said he was tricked by McNulty, who presented himself as a lawyer. In the end, a federal jury found Minder guilty of 11 counts of mail fraud and one count of securities fraud. McNulty pleaded guilty to one count each of mail fraud, wire fraud and securities fraud.

Times-News

Pass on the information to warn other D.C.’s about events that are really happening to chiropractors. When you see a “ yellow page” article in your local, regional, or national newspaper about chiropractic or a fellow chiropractor, fax, e-mail or mail it to us at TAC. For further information, fax: 1-305-716-9212 or see page 4 for our mailing address.

Springdale Chiropractor Frazetta
Wants to Give Back
PENNSYLVANIA: When his father died in March, Sebastian Frazetta searched for a way to honor his memory.  Frazetta’s father, Michael Frazetta, was a World War II veteran. Over the last few years, as Michael Frazetta required more care for dementia, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs covered his health care needs.
Frazetta is a chiropractor with a practice in Springdale. He decided he would honor his father while saying “thank you” to the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Any veteran who returns from Iraq or Afghanistan can receive one month of free chiropractic care at Frazetta Family Chiropractic.
“I want to give back to the veterans because they took care of my dad,” said Frazetta.
The idea came to him while he was going through his father’s medals, pictures and journals from the war.  Michael Frazetta wrote letters to his mother that detailed how great it was where he was stationed and his mother wrote similar letters about home. In reality, Michael Frazetta was in heavy combat in Germany and Italy throughout the war and his mother was very sick at home.
“It got me thinking that there are probably soldiers today doing the same thing,” said Frazetta. “It made me wonder what I could do. Then I thought that, in this economy, it will be tough for returning veterans and I didn’t want them to sacrifice their health because of costs.”
Michael Frazetta was proud of his military experience—he was a staff sergeant in the Army who served overseas from April 1943 to January 1946.
The program will never expire. Any veteran who returns from Iraq or Afghanistan, regardless of when it happens, can take advantage of the free month of care, Sebastian Frazetta said. “It could be five years from now. The important thing is that it will be one month of free care for each soldier. It’s open to anyone who can physically get to my office.”
There are no obligations tied to the program. A veteran can come in as many times as he wants during the month.
“My dad would want me to do this,” said Frazetta.
Pittsburgh Tribune

Multidisciplinary DC And His Calling
FORT WAYNE, IN:  Dr. Peter Jakacki is the true personification of combining chiropractic and allopathic medicine. First trained as a chiropractor and working in the field for 6 1/2 years, Jakacki then went to IU School of Medicine. He and another chiropractor admitted the same year were the first chiropractors the school had ever admitted. Four years later, Jakacki graduated first in the class, the other chiropractor second.
Both areas of medical practice were God’s leading, he said, maintaining, “God didn’t lead me to do this to shed one for the other.” At age 47 he’s doing what he loves: delivering babies; treating ear infections; counseling patients on diet and nutrition; and doing chiropractic adjustments to pregnant women, factory laborers and growing children. Between stitching cuts and well-baby checks, “I still adjust 10 to 15 people a day,” he said.
He may do an adjustment on a hospital patient who has been in bed for days. The standard treatment is to “medicate them with pain meds, or to ignore it. It’s nice to be able to adjust or work on someone’s back, work out the knots, work out the neck and face, to alleviate their headache manually when otherwise you wouldn’t be able to.” he said. Pregnant women get out of alignment due to the growing baby and hormonal changes on muscles and ligaments. A day after a woman delivers, he usually adjusts the mother.
Chiropractic has its place – and its limits, he said, noting, “I’ve had cases in which if I wasn’t able to intervene using the right medicine, the right medical intervention, the baby would have died. I’m thankful every day I have those medical tools available.”
Jakacki says, “There is a … move and education of the public to push toward natural and holistic health care. The move toward integrative medicine will have to originate with the people. If it’s not demanded by the people, medicine will not do it”.
Source: Fortwayne.com

Judge Reserves Decision On Chiropractic Lawsuit
EDMONTON, CANADA: A judge has reserved decision on a motion by the Alberta government to be dropped as a defendant in a proposed class-action lawsuit over chiropractic care.
A government spokesman says the lawsuit offers no reason why Alberta has been included as a defendant, so lawyers argued that there is no reason to continue against the province. The claim by Sandra Nette also names chiropractor Gregory John Stiles and the Alberta College and Association of Chiropractors.
The lawsuit alleges that adjustments to Nette’s upper neck ruptured arteries, which in turn disrupted blood flow to her brain and caused several paralyzing strokes. Her lawyer, Philip Tinkler, says the government can’t just wash its hands of the matter.
He suggests the province should actually be speaking out against the type of chiropractic treatment that he claims left Nette paralysed.  
Source The Canadian Press/Edmonton/iNews880.com.

Chiropractic Pioneer Celebrated    
CANADA: Government of Canada commemorates Daniel David Palmer as a person of national historic significance: The Honourable Bev Oda, Member of Parliament for Durham and Minister of International Cooperation, today unveiled a plaque from the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, on behalf of Canada’s Environment Minister and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, the Honourable Jim Prentice. The plaque commemorates Daniel David Palmer as a person of national historic significance. The ceremony in Port Perry Township of Scugog, celebrated Palmer’s importance in the history of Canada as creator of chiropractic medicine.
Born in Pickering County (present day Ajax) in 1845, Palmer grew up in Port Perry. His clinical observations and analyses of persons with health ailments led him to conclude that proper spinal alignment through manipulation of vertebrae would restore the nerve force needed to ensure good general health. In 1895, Palmer performed his first vertebral adjustments, and two years later founded a school of chiropractic in Iowa, where he had moved at age twenty. He tabulated his methods in the Text-book of the Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic: for Students and Practitioners. Published in 1910, this manual is deemed indispensable by his followers.
Revered in the fraternity of chiropractors across North America and, indeed, wider afield, 1500 people attended the 1938 ceremony where Port Perry honored its former citizen by dedicating Palmer Memorial Park on the shores of Lake Scugog. A massive bronze bust of D. D. Palmer was added to the park in 1946, and the Government of Canada recognized the importance of Palmer in 1993, when he was designated a National Historic Person of Canada.
“Chiropractic has progressed from the margins of health care at its conception to a mainstream medical practice,” said Mr Prentice. “By recognizing the national historic significance of Daniel David Palmer, the Government of Canada pays tribute to his remarkable accomplishments which contribute immensely to the fine medical system we know and love in Canada today.”
Parks Canada manages a nation-wide network of national historic sites that commemorate persons, places and events that have shaped Canada’s history and which offer visitors the opportunity for real and inspiring discovery.
Parks Canada works to ensure that Canada’s historic and natural heritage is presented and protected for the enjoyment, education, appreciation and inspired discovery of all Canadians, today and in the future.
Source: www.canadianbusiness.com

Trial Date Set to Challenge New Texas Fraud Law
TEXAS: Recently enacted legislation that seeks to criminalize present day ambulance chasing is under attack by a small group of health professionals and lawyers who want to continue the practice, says the Texas Committee on Insurance Fraud, an industry group of insurance companies, state agencies and other associations that seek to put an end to insurance fraud.
A temporary restraining order to prevent HB 148 from taking effect was filed in federal court by a plaintiff attorney and chiropractor on August 27. HB 148 is a law that made it a crime to solicit crash victims by phone. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks denied the request for a restraining order, but the plaintiffs, Donald McKinley, an Austin area chiropractor, and attorney Christopher Villasana, are alleging that the law is unconstitutional. A trial date of Oct. 9 has been set in Austin, Texas, to hear the plaintiffs’ challenge to the law. The Texas Attorney General’s Office is defending the legislation and successfully argued against the restraining order.
HB 148 by Rep. Todd Smith of Euless was signed by Governor Perry and became law on Sept. 1. The legislation makes it a crime for lawyers or health professionals to solicit crash victims by phone or in person for the first 30 days after a traffic accident.
Accident victims are free to seek medical care or be represented by a lawyer. The bill restricts both health professionals and lawyers from making the initial contact with crash victims by phone or showing up at their front door.
“This practice of harassing accident victims has gone on way too long,” said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Texas Committee on Insurance Fraud. “Telemarketers have used every trick in the book to solicit these people and we hope to put an end to all of this very soon.”
Legislation preventing lawyers from soliciting business by phone has been in place for more than 20 years under the barratry statute. The law also prevents health professionals from written solicitations within the first 30 days after an accident. HB 148 expanded the prohibition to include in person and telephone solicitations.
The legislation was strongly supported by both the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the Texas Chiropractic Association.
Source: Texas Committee on Insurance Fraud, insurancejournal.com/news

Study Finds the Availability of Chiropractic Care Improves the Value of Health Benefits Plans
CALIFORNIA:  A report, prepared by a global leader for trusted human resources and related financial advice, products and services finds that the addition of chiropractic care for the treatment of low back and neck pain will likely increase value-for-dollar in US employer-sponsored health benefit plans. Authored by Niteesh Choudhry, MD, PhD, and Arnold Milstein, MD, the report can be fully downloaded at:  http://images.vortala.com/chiropractor/USA/California/Carmichael/Foundation%20for%20Chiropractic%20Progress/SiteGraphics/ChiropracticServicesReport.pdf.
Accordingly, this report was commissioned by the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (www.f4cp.com) to summarize the existing economic studies of chiropractic care published in peer-reviewed scientific literature, and to use the most robust of these studies to estimate the cost-effectiveness of providing chiropractic insurance coverage in the US.
According to Gerard Clum, DC, spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress and President of Life Chiropractic College West, while some studies reflect cost efficiencies and others clinical efficiencies, these findings strongly support both for chiropractic care of neck pain and low back pain.
High quality randomized cost-effectiveness studies have, to date, only been performed in the European Union (EU). To model the EU study findings for US populations, researchers applied US insurer-payable unit price data from a large database of employer-sponsored health plans. The findings rest on the assumption that the relative difference in the cost-effectiveness of low back and neck pain treatment with and without chiropractic services are similar in the US and the EU.
These findings, in combination with existing US studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, suggest that chiropractic care for the treatment of low back and neck pain is likely to achieve equal or better health outcomes at a cost that compares very favorably to most therapies that are routinely covered in US health benefits plans.
www.foundation4cp.com/MercerReport.htm

State Orders Horizon to Pay Chiropractors’ Claims
NEW JERSEY:  The Association of New Jersey Chiropractors says that the state Department of Banking & Insurance has ruled the state’s largest health insurer must end its practice of not paying the separate claims of chiropractors for patient exams and physical therapies.
The association said Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield had been bundling the claims into reimbursements for general chiropractic treatment, subjecting them to the limits of single claims and effectively denying them.
Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) Commissioner Neil N. Jasey issued a cease and desist order Oct. 7, directing Horizon to treat chiropractors’ claims the same way as other health care provider claims.
Horizon had been denying the claims for exams and physical therapies since 1997, when it switched its claim codes, according to Jeffrey Randolph, the lead attorney for the Association of N.J. Chiropractors.
The American Chiropractic Association began challenging the claims denial in 2004, Randolph said, and the state organization took over the legal challenge a year later, since it represents New Jersey’s 3,200 chiropractors, 1,500 of whom are association members.
Horizon limited its comment on Jasey’s ruling to a brief statement: “Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey has received the decision that was rendered by the state of New Jersey’s Department of Banking and Insurance. Horizon BCBSNJ is in the process of reviewing and analyzing the ruling.”
Dr. Sigmund Miller, executive director of the Association of N.J. Chiropractors, said the association is exploring possible strategies, including legal ones, for practitioners to recoup past unreimbursed claims.
Randolph said claim-submission deadlines impose restrictions from 180 days to a year plus 90 days, depending on the health insurance plan. Horizon was given 45 days in which to appeal Jasey’s administrative action.
pressofatlanticcity.com

 

Federal Red Flag Rules Apply to Doctors of
Chiropractic Starting June 1, 2010
Legislation abolishing physician participation passed in House awaits Senate action
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations stating that financial institutions and creditors are required to develop and execute written identity-theft prevention programs, otherwise known as the “Red Flags Rules,” are slated to go into effect June 1, 2010.
Earlier this year, there was much ambiguity regarding the regulations and questions were raised as to whether physicians’ offices fell under the FTC red flags guidelines. In February, the FTC issued a statement clarifying that Identity Theft Red Flag Rules do indeed apply to physicians, including doctors of chiropractic.
The FTC has delayed implementation of the Red Flag Rules until June 1, 2010. The Senate has not yet taken action on this issue but, in an Oct. 30 release, the FTC indicated it did not want to begin enforcing a regulation that Congress plans to supersede. Therefore, the FTC pushed back the implementation date of the regulation from Nov. 1, 2009, to June 1, 2010.  Read the FTC’s release, and look for updates on this issue in ACA publications.
acatoday.com

Climber Presents Check to Kids

RHODE ISLAND: Dr. Tim Warren, the man who climbed to the top of the world earlier this year made good on a promise to some children on Sept. 23. The Warwick chiropractor who scaled Mount Everest, presented a check for more than $6000 to A Wish Come True.

The money was raised from sales of T-shirts and hats and donations from the corporate sponsor. Warren was unsuccessful in his attempt to reach the summit in 2007, but made it to the top in May of this year.

For a log of the climb, you can visit Dr. Tim Warren’s Klimb for Kids site at http://wwwdrtimwarren.com.

Turn to 10.com

Chiropractor, Attorney Acquitted of Fraud Charges

INDIANA: A chiropractor and attorney who had been charged with fraud and several other counts was found not guilty in late September following a three-day trial.

Robert Ekin, 39, adamantly denied that he had bilked five insurance companies out of thousands of dollars.

Prosecutors contended that he tracked down automobile crash victims, offered free consultations and then charged insurance companies for services not rendered.

“They had a hot mess of a case,” said Bryan Cook, Ekin’s attorney. “It was incredible and unbelievable that they would bring a case with this quality of evidence.”

Jurors delivered the not-guilty verdict after 14 hours of deliberation. Ekin said he feels vindicated, but violated.

“We’ve lost absolutely everything. It’s been a horrible experience,” Ekin said. “Thanks to the jurors and, especially, we’re eternally grateful to attorney Cook for what he’s done for my family.”

Ekin said he and his wife are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. He has opened a new clinic and his chiropractic license remains in good standing.

Attorney David Wood, who was also charged in the fraud case, was also acquitted.

The Indianapolis Star

Another Chiropractor Faces Fraud Charges

IOWA: A Cedar Rapids chiropractor is facing nearly 40 counts of mail fraud, identity theft and money laundering charges.

Douglas P. Dvorak was charged in an indictment filed in late September in the U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

The indictment alleges that 45-year-old Dvorak submitted false Medicaid claims for chiropractic services he never provided. It also says he used the identities of underaged Medicaid beneficiaries in his alleged scheme, which officials say lasted from late 2005 to early 2007.

Dvorak also is accused of trying to control and conceal the location of the proceeds of the fraud.

He faces 22 counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of aggravated identity theft and six counts of money laundering.

His initial appearance has been scheduled for the first week in October in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Kwwl.com

Chiropractor wins one case;
faces further censure from state

MAINE: Clifford Faldman, a Kennebunk chiropractor who had been facing a charge of unlawful sexual touching, was found not guilty after a jury trial concluded in late September.

Faldman also recently re-opened his practice, said his lawyer James Martemucci.

“He feels absolutely vindicated,” Martemucci said of his client. “He knew the charges were false from the beginning. He’s pleased he’s had his day in court and that the jury found in his favor.”

Faldman’s license to practice was reactivated Aug. 27 following 210 days of suspension stemming from charges of sexual misconduct with patients.

Faldman, 55, has a history of complaints against him by patients. His chiropractic license was suspended for 180 days, plus an additional 30 days earlier this year, said Doug Dunbar, from the Maine State Office of Licensing and Registration.

Dunbar said Faldman was given an additional 30-day suspension on top of the original 180 days after two new complaints were received. A hearing on those complaints took place Sept. 24. While the board found Faldman did not violate rules or ethics in regard to those two complaints, he does face censure for violating a previous agreement.

“The board found Dr. Faldman in violation of the January 2008 consent agreement for non-payment of hearing costs assessed to him at that time,” wrote Dunbar. “Those costs total $2,471.61. The board also found Dr. Faldman in violation of the January 2008 consent agreement for not submitting a treatment plan and clinician reports. Additionally, the board found Dr. Faldman in violation of rules pertaining to keeping appropriate patient records.”

Faldman is still facing one additional criminal charge of violating an order of protection, stemming from a June 2 incident. Martemucci said he expects that complaint to be dismissed.

seacoastonline.com

IOWA: A Cedar Rapids chiropractor has pleaded not guilty to nearly 40 charges of mail fraud, identity theft and money laundering.

Douglas P. Dvorak entered his plea in early October in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

An indictment alleges that 45-year-old Dvorak submitted false Medicaid claims for chiropractic services he never provided. It says he used the identities of underaged Medicaid beneficiaries in his alleged scheme, which officials say lasted from late 2005 to early 2007.

Dvorak also is accused of trying to control and conceal the location of the proceeds of the fraud.

He faces 22 counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of aggravated identity theft and six counts of money laundering.

His trial was scheduled for December 1.

The Associated Press

 

Chiropractor Agrees to $321,000 Settlement
over Medi-Cal

CALIFORNIA: Oroville chiropractor Steven Horn has agreed to pay federal and state governments a total of $321,726 to settle a civil claim that he charged the Medi-Cal program for a lot more patient visits than the law allows. The program covers up to two chiropractic visits a month for each beneficiary.

Horn, 52, charged Medi-Cal for more than 5,000 visits above the cap, despite his knowledge of the legal limit, according to Assistant U. S. Attorney Catherine Swann.

Medi-Cal is the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program, created by Congress in 1965 to provide payments of medical expenses for low-income patients. In California, the program is funded half with federal funds and half with state funds.

Horn, who operates Chiropractic Health Clinics of California in Oroville, agreed to the settlement, but denies any wrongdoing.

Sacto 9-1-1

 

Overwhelmed Chiropractor Gets 4 Months
for Alleged $340,000 Theft

PENNSYLVANIA: Chiropractor Matthew Nicastro wept as he begged a Cumberland County judge not to send him to prison for a $340,000 insurance fraud that Nicastro claimed resulted from negligent bookkeeping. “I did not intend to victimize anyone,” he told Judge Skip Ebert.

Nicastro, 36, of Boiling Springs, even had two patients, one a high school principal, testify about how well he treated them.

He did squeeze some leniency from Ebert. Although the prosecution demanded a 6-month prison term, Ebert sentenced Nicastro to 4 to 23 months in county prison and fined him $1,500 on charges of insurance fraud and theft by deception.

Nicastro pleaded no contest to the theft and fraud counts in July for what authorities said was a billing scam. Investigators said Nicastro billed insurers multiple times for the same services, billed for work he didn’t perform and charged for ineligible work done by massage therapists.

Defense attorney Heidi F. Eakin said Nicastro has paid more than $318,000 in restitution to Highmark Blue Shield and roughly $22,000 to Erie Insurance. Eakin said she expects the state to suspend indefinitely his license to practice.

Nicastro told Ebert it was all an unintentional mistake. He became overwhelmed at work and allowed his billing system to fall into disarray, he said.

Big Spring High School Principal John Scudder told Ebert that he was “tremendously impressed by the professionalism and integrity” Nicastro exhibited while treating him. “He didn’t press me for extra charges or anything of that sort.”

Senior Assistant District Attorney Geoffrey McInroy opposed Nicastro’s and Eakin’s pleas for a probation sentence and urged Ebert to stick with the 6-month prison term set in the July plea deal. That already was less than the 9-month minimum prison term that would be standard for such an offense, he said.

The Patriot News

 

 

Jury Convicts Chiropractor of Concealing Property, Making False Declarations and Money Laundering

CALIFORNIA: A jury sitting in the Eastern District of California convicted Thomas M. Klassy on two separate counts of concealing property and making a false declaration in a bankruptcy case and 26 counts of laundering the proceeds of the bankruptcy crimes. Evidence at trial was introduced to show that Klassy falsely denied owning numerous valuable assets during his bankruptcy case including an airplane, a one-third interest in a 220 acre ranch and $205,000 he received from the sale of his chiropractic business. As for the business sale, further evidence showed that Klassy concealed the real $265,000 sale contract and instead produced to the bankruptcy trustee a forged contract purporting to show that the business sold for only $60,000.

The conviction ended a three week trial before U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr., in Sacramento. Klassy is being detained pending sentencing.

The Trinity Journal