Savvy business model or ‘massive fraud’? Just ASK GARY

State Farm insurance files a federal lawsuit against a Florida chiropractor for his ubiquitously advertised back-of-the-bus referral service.

 

The ads are on buses and billboards everywhere in no-fault personal injury states such as Florida, Kentucky and Minnesota and they say, simply, “1-800-ASK-GARY.”

 

Turns out ASK GARY is a referral service set up by Florida chiropractor Gary Kompothecras. If you’re in a car accident in one of these states you can call the number and get referred to a personal injury lawyer and a chiropractor.

 

ASK GARY is one of numerous referral services that have sprung up in recent years to take advantage of state no-fault insurance laws that permit personal injury payouts of up to $20,000 without either party having to go to court to determine who was at fault, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

 

State Farm’s lawsuit alleges ASK GARY is engaging in “massive fraud” because it refers patients only to Kompothecras’ practice, Physicians Group LLC, which violates Florida laws against patient brokering and self-referrals, as well as the state’s anti-kickback statute, the insurance company alleges.

 

The lawsuit cites a sworn affidavit by an accident attorney who is part of the ASK GARY referral network that Kompothecras required him to refer clients only to Kompothecras-owned clinics for treatment, said the Star Tribune.

 

“The driving force behind the Defendants’ scheme is to exhaust their unsuspecting patients’ limited No-Fault Benefits, without regard to whether the patients may have health insurance that might otherwise cover some or all of Physicians Group’s charges, thereby preserving their No-Fault Benefits for other medical services that the patients may truly need,” the lawsuit states.

 

Gregory Zitani, an attorney for the chiropractor dismissed the lawsuit as “frivolous and malicious” and a “desperate act by State Farm,” which Zitani said owes Physicians Group over $9 million for 1,000 claims, the newspaper states.

 

It’s not the first time Kompothecras has tangled with the law, however. The chiropractor was under scrutiny by the FBI in 2011 because of his referral practices, and that same year was accused of gouging patients for expensive treatments – in one case charging a patient more than $23,000 for expensive MRIs, office visits and electrical stimulation, reported the Miami Herald Tribune.

 

Kompothecras is a frequent Republican campaign donor and was a co-chair of Mitt Romney’s Florida finance team.

 

For State Farm, the ASK GARY suit is just the latest case against a medical provider taking advantage of the no-fault personal injury insurance provision. In February this year, the company settled with a Palm Beach orthopedic surgery center accused of charging personal injury patients up to $35,000 for minimally invasive percutaneous spine procedures involving the ArthroCare SpineWand that took less than 20 minutes to perform, according to Insurancenewsnet.com.