On October 9, 2018, The Sacramento Bee published an article highlighting the suit filed by the California Chiropractic Association (CalChiro) in San Francisco Superior Court on August 31, 2018, alleging among other complaints, One Call Medical, Inc. d/b/a One Call Care Management (OCM) and its subsidiary, Align Networks (Align) have violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) as broadly defined in Business and Professions Code Section 17200 (Case No. CGC-18-569362).

Read the Sac Bee article below or click here to be redirected.

The Sacramento Bee

Chiropractors allege in suit that Florida company using illicit kickbacks to steer patients

BY CATHIE ANDERSON

California chiropractors allege in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court that an aggressive middleman in the workers’ compensation arena is employing a novel kickback scheme to steer patients to providers willing to share more of their fees with the company.

Sacramento-based California Chiropractic Association asserted in its court complaint that One Call Care Management is violating business and professions codes that have gotten health care practitioners prosecuted for fraud. The company, based in Jacksonville, Florida, bills itself as the nation’s leading provider of workers’ compensation care management.

“I was advised when I was negotiating my contract (with One Call) that the deeper the discount I took, the more referrals I would get,” said Wayne Whalen, a chiropractor in Santee who has led or co-led CalChiro’s workers’ compensation committee for roughly 20 years. “They said to me, ‘If you’re willing to take less, we could send you more business.’ It was clearly a quid pro quo. … Doctors go to jail if we do stuff like that, soliciting improper payments and offering inducements for referrals.”

The chief legal officer for One Call, Steven Davis, said he would not comment on ongoing litigation.

Click here to continue reading the article.