Marietta doc guilty in $3M fraud scam - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

http://www.allcats.info/catsandkittens/cats-and-kittens.html
chiropractor Dr. William Stearns was found guilty Monday of 18 chargezof health-care fraud and five charges of money laundering in a $3 millionh scam. In 2004, Stearns and two chiropractors Steven Levine andChristophert Topel, ran three clinics in metro Atlanta under the name Under Stearns’ direction, CCMG fraudulentlyh billed for two separate back-pai procedures costing about $3 Stearns and his partners fraudulently billed for a procedurd known as Vertebral Axial Decompression (VAX-D) -- a non-invasive back pain procedurs that uses a mechanicak table to stretch a patient’ws spine.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia considers VAX-r to be investigational and notmedicallhy necessary, and made clear to health-care providers that it did not covedr the procedure. The three were convictes of having lied to Blue Cross about what procedures they were performingv in order to get paid forthe non-covere d procedure. Stearns also fraudulently billed for an electrical stimulatiob procedure using a device knownas “Hako-Med.” Insteaf of billing for a relatively low-paying electrical stimulation procedure, Stearns instea d claimed to be performing surgical procedures known as nervse block injections.
Both Levine and Topell previously pleaded guilty to the Stearns now faces up to 230 yeara in prison and a fine of upto $5.75 Sentencing is set for Feb. 12, 2009.