Hello, dear readers!  I think it’s time to bring up the ol’ MPN and check for a few names, based on the latest story from the San Diego Union Tribune, documenting the vast criminal conspiracy in Southern California to trade patients like so many Magic: The Gathering cards (or Baseball cards, if that resonates more…)

According to the Tribune, Crosby Square Chiropractic, Amir Khan of Orange, David C Nguyen of Huntington Beach, Phong H Tran of Irvine, George Reese of North Park, Foremost Shockwave Solutions, Julian Garcia of National City, and Ronald Grusd (of California Imaging Network Medical Group) of Los Angeles are all involved in a massive FBI investigation where medical practitioners and medical equipment providers were paid referral fees (bribes) to herd injured workers towards unnecessary treatment to be billed to workers’ compensation insurers and employers.

This is nothing new in our wonderful world of workers’ comp, but the size of this things warrants some recognition.  For the most part, though, it appears to be confined to Southern California, which makes it a matter of interest for your humble blogger, but little effect for your wise and zealous defense attorney.

While this case is far from closed, and there are no convictions as yet (except for a few early guilty pleas, including one San Diego workers’ compensation attorney), we should all check our MPNs and unpaid bills (and incoming bills) for the names listed above.  It might make sense to go over past paid invoices or settled liens to add to the growing list of victims of the alleged fraud.

Here’s another fun fact: the investigation estimates several millions of dollars in bills fraudulently charged to workers’ compensation defendants.  So, the next time our friends over at the applicants’ bar pound their fists on the table and complain about those evil corporations who can’t spare a few dollars for the injured workers, we can direct their attention to the fraudulent billings instead.