166 Medical Providers Suspended in Los Angeles Due to Workers Comp Fraud: How to Not Become a Victim of This Fraud

In its latest maneuver to ban fraudulent medical providers from operating in California and providing workers with improper or illegal workers compensation, the state has recently suspended seven more providers.

The total number of medical providers suspended on suspicion of fraud has now reached close to 170.

Workers compensation fraud is not something new or extraordinary in California, where dozens of thousands of workers have become victims of fraud and other criminal actions on the part of medical providers in the past decade.

Just recently, however, the state has launched a crackdown to suspend medical providers for fraud, loss of their license, and other criminal actions that have had a negative impact on the state’s workers seeking workers compensation for their on-the-job injuries.

Among those over 166 medical providers suspended in recent months, our workers compensation lawyers have outlined the most common causes of suspension:

• illegally receiving compensation or inducement for the referral of clients
• running an illegal prescription mill that generated prescriptions that workers who suffered injuries did not need, and submitted prescriptions for services that weren’t necessary for the workers well-being, neither were they ordered by a doctor OR performed by one
• the license was suspended, surrendered, or revoked, and yet medical providers still continued to operate in Los Angeles and all across California;

How to avoid workers compensation fraud in Los Angeles

Our workers compensation attorneys here at Law Offices of Kropach & Kropach, who have helped Los Angeles workers obtain fair and maximum compensation for their on-the-job injuries as well as protect them from all forms of workers comp fraud, explain that this type of fraud is said to be one of the most progressive in California.

As many more fraudulent and dishonest medical providers pop up all across California, promising fast results and fair compensation to the injured and vulnerable, workers compensation fraud costs insurance companies and businesses in the state millions of dollars every year.

The California workers compensation system has its flaws – quite a lot of them, actually – which is why so many fraudulent medical providers get away with illegal actions for years before getting caught. And many of them never get caught and are still operating in California.

In order to avoid fraudulent medical providers when trying to file for and collect workers compensation for your injuries, it’s highly advised to hire a Los Angeles workers comp attorney to represent you in your best interest and make sure that:

• Your medical provider has no prior history of accusations of fraud or other illegal actions
• You’re being offered the kind of medications and services that your condition requires you to get recovery, and those were ordered by and will be performed by a qualified doctor
• The medical provider has a valid license that hasn’t been suspended, surrendered or revoked
• You’re being provided with the maximum compensation for your injuries sustained in the workplace, and all the damages associated with your injuries – short and long-term, economic and non-economic – including lost wages and lost capacity, are being assessed fairly and thoroughly.

Signs of workers comp fraud in LA to watch out for

If you become a victim of or witness any of the following fraudulent actions on the part of your employer, don’t hesitate to contact a workers compensation lawyer in Los Angeles:

• Underreporting payroll or misclassifying you or other employees
• Deducting a certain amount of dollars from your wages
• Failure to have workers compensation coverage despite California laws requiring eligible Los Angeles employers to have this type of coverage.

Medical provider workers compensation fraud:

• Operating with a license that has been suspended, surrendered, or revoked
• Providing unnecessary medical check-ups, treatments, testing, and diagnoses to workers in an attempt to reap financial benefit other than helping the injured worker assess injuries and get necessary medical treatment
• Billing for medications never purchased or ordered
• or services and treatment never performed or ordered
• Billing the workers comp insurer and the health insurer for the same services.

If you’ve noticed any of the above-mentioned forms of fraud when seeking workers compensation from your employer and medical provider, or you suspect the employer or provider of fraudulent actions based on other suspicious signs, contact our workers compensation lawyers at Law Offices of Kropach & Kropach to know your best course of action.

Call our Los Angeles offices at 818-609-7005 or complete this contact form to get a free initial consultation.