Allstate Gets $8.2M in Fraud Lawsuit Against Southern California Clinics
Allstate Corp. won a $8.2 million award yesterday in a lawsuit involving nine Southern California medical clinics accused of billing the insurer for treatments that were never performed, the Los Angeles Times reports. In 1999, Allstate filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court charging six doctors who operated the clinics with "altering" medical records and bills to support personal injury lawsuits and insurance claims against Allstate and its policyholders. The clinics named in the suit included: Tri-Star Family Health Center in El Monte, Wilshire Tri-Star Medical Clinic, Van Nuys Family Health Center, Carson Community Medical Clinic, Carson Medical Clinic, Wilshire Rampart Health Center, Value Care Medical Clinic in West Covina, Anaheim Walk-In Medical Clinic and El Monte Valley Health Center. Dennis Kass, an attorney for Allstate, said that he hopes the ruling has a "deterrent effect on doctors who falsify billings or provide unnecessary treatment" (Weston, Los Angeles Times, 3/9).
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