Former N.J. Chiropractor Pleads Guilty to Health Care Claims Fraud

New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey announced that a former Bergen County chiropractor previously convicted of insurance fraud has pleaded guilty to additional charges, including Health Care Claims Fraud for reportedly billing an insurance company more than $1,200 for chiropractic services that were never provided.

According to Vaughn McKoy, Director, Division of Criminal Justice and Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Richard Finder, 47, of Bergen County, pleaded guilty before Bergen County Superior Court Judge William Meehan to a criminal Accusation which charged Health Care Claims Fraud (2nd degree). A second degree crime carries a penalty of up to 10 years in state prison and a maximum fine of $150,000. Finder may also face civil insurance fraud fines pursuant to the civil Insurance Fraud Prevention Act. Finder is slated to be sentenced by Judge Meehan on Jan. 9, 2004.

Gooden Brown said that Finder formerly operated The Family Chiropractic Clinic located at 810 Abbott Blvd. in Fort Lee. In entering a guilty plea before Judge Meehan on Nov. 7, Finder reportedly admitted that from January through August, 2000, he submitted over $1,260 in fraudulent bills to the Cigna Insurance Company for chiropractic treatments that were never rendered.

Gooden Brown noted that Finder was previously indicted by a State Grand Jury in April, 1998, on insurance fraud-related charges. Specifically, Finder was charged with theft by deception for reportedly submitting more than $42,000 in fraudulent billings to 11 insurance companies.

Finder pled guilty in Nov. 1998, and is reported to have admitted that he submitted fraudulent billings which included bills for chiropractic claims covering visits that never occurred; double billing patients’ insurers; billing insurers using false patient names; and billing for treatments occurring before a patient’s initial visit. Finder was sentenced by Judge Meehan on Jan. 8, 1999 to three years probation, ordered to pay $18,000 in restitution and to pay a $20,000 civil insurance fraud fine.

Finder’s chiropractic license was suspended for a period of three years with six months of active suspension in April, 1999, by the Board of Chiropractic Examiners. On Dec. 5, 2002, Finder’s chiropractic license was revoked for violating the April, 1999 order.