A California doctor has been charged with insurance fraud for allegedly scamming insurers out of more than $700,000.
Dr. Gary Royce Wisner, 61, has been charged with 11 felony counts of insurance fraud after allegedly providing excessive and unnecessary medical treatment for orthopedic patients, according to WorkersCompensation.com.
“Dr. Wisner violated his Hippocratic Oath when he allegedly abused his patients and the workers’ compensation system to line his pockets with illegal profits,” said California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “When medical providers scam the system, everybody loses, including the injured workers, their employers and consumers when the losses are passed along to them through higher prices for goods and services.”
A multi-agency investigation found that Wisner was allegedly providing unnecessary medical treatments – including exposing his patients to excessive X-rays – in order to commit insurance fraud. Wisner’s scam allegedly resulted in the loss of more than $700,000 to four insurers, including State Compensation Insurance Fund, Zenith Insurance, Hartford and Tristar.
Health insurance fraud is a multibillion-dollar drain on the California economy, according to WorkersCompensation.com. Over the last two years, the California Department of Insurance has made arrests in healthcare fraud cases totaling more than $2 billion.
