Happy Monday, dear readers!

Your humble blogger hopes the weekend was kind to you.  I know a lot of us were watching with amazement the doings in Washington and the seating of our newest Supreme Court Justice.  Since the musings of California Workers’ Compensation rarely get reviewed by SCOTUS, I’ll reserve my comments and thoughts on the last few weeks for another forum (most likely muttering and winning arguments with myself in the shower).

Frankly, dear readers, I’m still a little hurt that your humble blogger was not considered for the position – the words “Justice” and “Grinberg” are practically interchangeable, so how could one go wrong with “Justice Grinberg.”

But, today’s posting focuses on California workers’ compensation (which, as it happens, is the purpose of this blog, after all!)

I bring to my beloved readers a story making the rounds, that of Sam Solakyan.  Mr. Solakyan operated MRI facilities in both Northern and Southern California.  As alleged, Vital Imaging, San Diego MRI Institute, Global Holdings LLC, Empire Radiology, Access Integrated Healthcare, AIH Imaging, Access Imaging, Paramount Management Services and Capital Edge Holdings are all entities under his control.

Mr. Solakyan was indicted by a federal grand jury based on allegations he paid physicians to refer patients for MRIs at his facilities.  If allegations are to be believed as fact, that Mr. Solakyan may have billed as much as $284 million for services obtained in this fashion.

Now, some of my readers, especially that have medical service liens pending before the WCAB, might be asking “so what’s the big deal?” After all, patients need MRIs, what does it matter who performs the MRIs?  If the insurers didn’t pay Mr. Solakyan, then they would have paid someone else.

Well, aside from the fact that it is illegal to bribe doctors for referrals, the logic only holds if the injured worker would have needed an MRI anyway.  However, assuming the allegations are true, Mr. Solakyan’s payments to various physicians would have, presumably, induced them to recommend MRIs that were not necessary.  That’s money spent by defendants that shouldn’t have been.

It’s important to recall that Mr. Solakyan has not been convicted, so there’s no reason to assume that he necessarily will be.  That being said, if you’ve got a lien from any of the outfits listed above, you may consider investigating further if this was a legitimate service or the product of an RFA induced by the promise of a bribe.

Onward and upward, dear readers!