The Los Angeles County Superior Court has awarded Allstate Insurance more than $7 million in a case filed by the insurer on its behalf against a Long Beach chiropractor, Dr. Daniel Dahan, and his business, Progressive Diagnostic Imaging.
In the judgment, Superior Court Judge Ernest Hiroshige found that Dahan and Progressive Diagnostic Imaging violated the state's Insurance Frauds Prevention Act in 487 claims presented to Allstate in radiology reports that were determined to be falsified medical records that have no diagnostic, clinical, or medical value, Allstate said.
Allstate alleged that Dahan purchased report-writing software that purported to analyze x-rays and form medical opinions and diagnoses, and formed Progressive Diagnostic Imaging to solicit x-rays from chiropractors, with the assurance that board-certified radiologists would analyze the films. The insurer also claimed that Dahan recruited untrained and unlicensed individuals to prepare the fraudulent radiology reports, instructing them to cut and paste the signatures of board-certified radiologists to the reports, all without the knowledge, approval, or authorization of the radiologists.
Hiroshige issued an injunction prohibiting Dahan from owning, operating, or working as an employee in any business engaged in the practice of medicine, and ordered that letters be sent to all of the affected patients and their referring healthcare providers to advise them of the court's findings and judgment, according to Allstate.
