Ft. Lauderdale Chiropractor Dr. Troy Lomasky Notes Florida Surgeon General Issues Emergency Suspension of Daytona Practitioner

Insurance fraud is a big problem in Florida and gives good chiropractors a bad name.  If you are a victim of fraud, or suspect insurance fraud, report directly to the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Insurance Fraud by clicking here.


Florida Surgeon General suspends chiropractor's license; order claims insurance billing fraud By LYDA LONGA, STAFF WRITER 
August 13, 2011

http://www.news-journalonline.com/
Daytona Beach News Journal

DAYTONA BEACH -- The state surgeon general in suspending the license of chiropractor Joseph Wagner blasts the 61-year-old as an irresponsible practitioner who flouted the law by billing insurance companies for services he never performed and treating at least two patients with controlled substances.

Dr. Frank Farmer, the surgeon general for the Florida Department of Health, said Friday that issuing the emergency suspension order for Wagner's license was the "best way to resolve the issue."

"Dr. Wagner's actions demonstrate such a propensity to inappropriately exceed the scope of his license and to mislead third parties ... and make it clear that Dr. Wagner will continue to practice in violation of Florida law unless action is taken to prevent him from doing so," the order states.

In the 14-page document issued late Thursday, the Department of Health details how Wagner submitted fake insurance reimbursement claims to Geico insurance company for treatments he supposedly gave two patients identified in the order as "KR" and "JR."

The order also claims that Wagner called in prescriptions for both patients under the name of another doctor who never evaluated or even met the individuals.

The license of that doctor, John P. Christensen of West Palm Beach, was suspended by Farmer on Aug. 4. That same day, the FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies raided the Wagner Chiropractic & Acupuncture Clinic at 542 N. Ridgewood Ave., confiscating patient records.

The seizure of records was in connection to the Christensen matter, FDLE officials said; two other clinics were busted that day, as well -- one in West Palm Beach and one in Port St. Lucie.

In addition, Wagner's son, John Wagner, who is also a chiropractor with a separate clinic on Mason Avenue, is implicated in the same investigation, Department of Health and FDLE officials said.

John Wagner was placed on probation by the state's Board of Chiropractic Medicine in April, records show, because he erroneously diagnosed a patient. The patient is one of six that were seen by either Joseph Wagner or John Wagner in a two-year-period and were prescribed medications under Christensen's name, records show.

Joseph Wagner's other son is Volusia County Councilman and personal injury attorney Josh Wagner. Neither Joseph Wagner nor Josh Wagner returned phone messages left Friday.

The door to the Wagner clinic was locked Friday morning.

In the order issued against Joseph Wagner on Thursday, it states that he saw the two patients for only minutes at a time each week, yet he billed Geico a total of 53 times for extensive services that he never performed. Wagner claimed that he gave the patients various chiropractic treatments, in addition to 30-minute counseling sessions, the order shows.

"Dr. Wagner's egregious and inappropriate coordinated effort to submit insurance claims for chiropractic services not rendered demonstrate exceptionally poor judgment," the order states. "And his behavior is the antithesis of what is required and expected of chiropractic physicians."

As for the controlled substances that the Department of Health details Wagner as having prescribed, those included hydrocodone, Xanax for anxiety and the muscle relaxant Soma.

Patient "KR" told investigators that the doses Wagner prescribed to her were "excessive" and she took the medication only as needed. Wagner prescribed 40 hydrocodone, 21 Xanax and 21 Soma each, to "KR" and her husband "JR," weekly, the order shows.

Investigators said Wagner would call in the prescriptions and they would be issued under Christensen's name.

"Dr. Wagner's egregious and inappropriate prescribing of potentially addictive and dangerous drugs, through the use of Dr. Christensen's medical license and DEA number, to chiropractic patients, constitutes a breach of the trust and confidence that the Legislature placed in him," the order says.

According to state records, Wagner, graduated with a business degree from Bethune-Cookman College in 1972. He went to chiropractic school at the Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City from 1973 to 1977.

A native of Daytona Beach, Wagner graduated from Father Lopez High School in 1968. He became a chiropractic physician licensed in Florida in 1978 and studied to be a doctor at Universidad Federico Henriquel, the same now-defunct school in the Dominican Republic that Christensen attended.

-- Staff Writer Jay Stapleton contributed to this report.