by Talia Mollett
tmollett@mdjonline.com
November 12, 2009 01:00 AM | 2948 views | 7
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Chiropractors Andrew Sokol, 41, and his wife, Julie Weisberg, 35, were arraigned on felony fraud charges last month in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. They are accused of billing Blue Cross Blue Shield and other private insurers for million of dollars, prosecutors claim.
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MARIETTA - A Marietta couple accused of fraudulently billing health care insurers for $11 million in fake insurance claims are back at work in Marietta.
Chiropractors Andrew Sokol, 41, and Julie Weisberg, 35, were arraigned on felony fraud charges last month in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. They are accused of billing Blue Cross Blue Shield and other private insurers for million of dollars in physical therapy services that prosecutors say were never provided. Sokol had owned and operated several Wellness One chiropractic clinics in the Atlanta area, including one at 2727 Canton Road in Marietta. Weisberg was a partner in that business, which prosecutors said was the most profitable of the clinics.
Neither Sokol or Weisberg responded to calls for comment. The couple are now franchisees of The Joint Powers Ferry, a clinic at 2022 Powers Ferry Rd., near Interstate 285.
Sokol and Weisberg are both licensed chiropractors who provided massages, personal training and chiropractic adjustments, said acting U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. Federal prosecutors estimate a trial to take at least two weeks, though no trial date has been set.
Sokol is charged with one count of conspiracy, 53 counts of health care fraud, three counts of mail fraud and five counts of money laundering. Weisberg will face one count of conspiracy, 24 counts of health care fraud and three counts of mail fraud. The indictment includes a forfeiture provision for their personal property at 3306 Hadleigh Court in Marietta.
Prosecutors allege that from January 2005 to September 2007, the couple employed doctors and physical therapists in order to bill massage as physical therapy, Yates said. The licensed providers did not see a majority of the patients and massage therapists gave the massages, she said.
Sokol also built gyms in the clinics and then billed personal training sessions to insurers as physical therapy, Yates said. The couple apparently targeted MBNA and Bank of America employees with their scheme because their Blue Cross Blue Shield policies provided generous chiropractic and physical therapy insurance benefits.
In 2004, Sokol's chiropractic license was placed on probation for one year after the Georgia Board of Chiropractic Examiners concluded he placed false advertisements, according to the Georgia Secretary of State's Web site.
I am a chiropractic physician. I was trained at the National Naval Medical Center in Maryland and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I was on the same rotations as my MD and DO peers... all departments refer back and forth and chiropractic medicine has a great deal of research to back it up.
HOWEVER, the above named individuals are a blight on the profession... any physician who commits fraud should be penalized and prosecuted to the greatest extent of the law.
The statement that Chiropractors have the same training as physicians is ridiculous. "the same extensive training"...I am speachless! as for the comment on Drs. just wanting to write prescriptions instead of treating the cause of the pain...you neglected to mention that chiros have been desperately lobbying to get permission to write prescriptions for years! and "medically sound?" come on! there has never been one ounce of scientific data to support chiropractic medicine...NONE...it is a drain on insurance and while massages are wonderful!..these so called "adjustments" are at best "snake oil" procedures...and at worst very dangerous.
At one time, I viewed them the same way much of the population does. Then I was rear ended while sitting at a stoplight by a sweet little older lady going 47 mph. I went to the Flt. Surgeon, who, as you might imagine, wrote me a script for pain meds. The Chiropractor is the one who gave me my life back. I was a young mother with two small kids at the time, and I've no doubt that had it not been for her, I'd still be walking with a cane and managing my pain with drugs. Strangely enough, it changed my misconception so much that I enrolled at ASM here in Atlanta to become a Massage Therapist, with the goal of working hand-in-hand with Chiropractors who believe in treating the person and the body, not in simply masking the symptoms. HealthyTouchMT@aol :)