New York has launched a meticulous statewide initiative to shut down medical offices that have been fraudulently billing for medical services for car accident victims under the no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) system in the state, when those services are either entirely unnecessary or were never administered in the first place.
Under the new regulations of this initiative, any doctors who have taken part in these unscrupulous efforts to defraud the PIP system in New York will be committing professional suicide.
The regulations are being issued by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the direction of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and are putting into effect a law from 2005 which gives the DFS the authority to regulate the way that doctors take part in the state’s no-fault system. Any doctors that are found to have been violating these regulations will receive a full PIP system ban and face possible decertification.
The reason for this strict action is that PIP fraud is currently costing insurance companies millions of dollars every year, forcing them to increase the rates that are paid by drivers in the state. New York drivers are currently paying the fourth highest rates in the country for auto insurance coverage, and abuse to the PIP system is being blamed for a great deal of these high costs.
Governor Cuomo stated that “The state has no tolerance for medical providers or doctors ripping off the system.”
There have already been 135 medical providers identified by the DFS as having potentially fraudulent behaviors in the no-fault system. These doctors stood out in information and audits by insurance companies and law enforcement.