By KHI NEWS SERVICE
WICHITA — A Wichita chiropractor pleaded guilty today to defrauding health care insurers of more than $1.3 million.
U.S. Attorney for Kansas Barry Grissom announced the plea by Jeffrey D. Fenn, 33, of Wichita.
Fenn also pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated identity theft and a count of tax evasion, admitting that between March 2011 and October 2013 he executed the fraud scheme through his businesses, including Wichita Health and Wellness, Fenn Chiropractic, P.A., and Wichita Pain Associates, P.A.
Fenn submitted false billing claims to Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas, Coventry Health Care of Kansas, Inc., and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
Chiropractors are not allowed to perform injections, dispense drugs or supervise physicians.
Fenn, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, developed what he called an “integrated practice,” hiring physicians, advanced registered nurse practitioners and physical therapists and ostensibly having them perform procedures he was not qualified to perform.
He misrepresented to the Kansas Board of Healing Arts that medical doctors had an ownership in his clinic and used the names of physicians he employed to submit false claims for services.
Fenn fraudulently billed for nerve conduction tests, nerve block injections, subcutaneous infiltrate proceedings, fine needle aspirations and ultrasound procedures.
He also made fraudulent claims for business and personal income taxes.
For example, he claimed a $9,400 business expense for purchasing a server. In fact, he spent the money to make a down payment on a residential lot in Wichita. He claimed a $15,100 expense for advertising but used the money to make a down payment on a ski boat.
Sentencing is set for Oct. 20. Attorneys for the prosecution and defense have agreed to recommend a sentence of five years in federal prison and restitution totaling more than $1.8 million.
Grissom commended the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, the FBI, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway for their work on the case.