A number of “dirty” docs are now being pursued by the state regarding accidents that never happened.
New York is now going after twelve doctors that signed off on auto insurance claims for accidents that never occurred, in order to allow their “patients”, and themselves, to collect millions in payments from the no-fault system in the state.
Notices went out to the dozen physicians as well as six additional health providers.
Those notices have barred them from being able to submit auto insurance claims on the no-fault system in New York, according to state officials. These notices were issued to a dozen physicians who were a part of multimillion dollar scams to the system and who were identified during a massive crackdown that occurred at the start of 2012.
Governor Cuomo spoke on the damage that auto insurance scams create on the state’s system.
In his announcement of the crackdown, Governor Cuomo stated that “Defrauding the state’s no-fault auto insurance system is illegal and drives up costs for honest drivers across the state.” The doctors in question were linked to what are known as “no-fault mills”, which produce regular bills to insurers for claims that are entirely fraudulent, according to the Department of Financial Services of the state.
The auto insurance scams were blown open in February 2012, when 36 defendants were arrested in a crackdown within the state of New York. These individuals included 10 doctors who were allegedly operating these scam organizations in Brooklyn.
Benjamin Lawsky, the Superintendent of Financial Services reviewed each of the doctors’ billing practices across New York and came across a deceitful trend among a number of physicians and healthcare practitioners. He explained that “a dirty doctor is typically the key ingredient in these schemes,” due to the fact that they are often the center of the legitimacy of the claims that are being made by these “patients” who are victims of artificial accidents.
The doctors added their signatures to claims to auto insurance companies for injuries that never actually occurred, for accidents that did not happen. In certain circumstances, the doctors would actually rent their tax identification numbers to non-physicians so that they would be able to submit the claims, themselves.
