Scoliosis Treatment Center Owner Charged with Fraud in La.
Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., reported that Arthur Copes, 5710 North Shore Drive, Baton Rouge, La., surrendered to Attorney General Special Agents on 117 counts of insurance fraud for his alleged involvement in a medical billing insurance scam and practicing medicine without a license.
Copes is the owner of the Scoliosis Treatment Recovery System Clinic, 8108 Picardy Avenue, Baton Rouge. Copes purports to have developed a back brace and treatment system that he claims is successful in the treatment of scoliosis. The clinic is now closed.
According to the AG’s Special Agents, Copes allegedly treated patients and then sent bills to insurance companies indicating they had been treated by a licensed chiropractor. However, according to the Louisiana Board of Chiropractors, Copes is not a licensed chiropractor. Special Agents allege that Copes performed all the treatment on scoliosis patients as though he were a licensed chiropractor.
Special Agents further allege that even though Copes performed all of the treatment, he submitted numerous bills to insurance companies using the names and signatures of licensed chiropractors, without their knowledge and in many cases long after they had left the clinic.
The AG’s office said Special Agents learned that the patients were charged a large sum of money, up to $10,000 in one case, and advised that their insurance company would cover a certain percentage of the cost of the treatment. Special Agents estimate that Copes allegedly fraudulently billed insurance companies over $138,000.
Copes faces a possible sentence of five years and/or a $5,000 fine per count on the charges of insurance fraud. The possible sentence for practicing medicine without a license carries a possible sentence of a fine not more than $3,000 or prison for not more than three months, or both, and each day a violation continues is considered a separate offense.
Copes was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison; bond was set at $10,000.
Anyone having information on Copes or the Scoliosis Recovery Treatment System is encouraged to contact the Attorney General’s Office at (800) 256-4506.
Source: Louisiana Attorney General’s Office