Man charged with fraudulent chiropractor billing

Published: 2011-07-30 09:55:58
Author: Nathan Gorenstein and Jeremy Roebuck | Philadelphia Inquirer |July 28, 2011

Tahib Smith Ali had the patients and delivered at least some health-care services, but he wasn't the chiropractor he claimed to be, according to a federal indictment.

Ali, 34, was charged Wednesday with posing as a chiropractor and physical therapist, and submitting more than $1.1 million in fraudulent claims to Independence Blue Cross in 2009 and 2010.

It was his second arrest on health-care-fraud charges. In 2004, state police arrested him and 41 others accused of participating in a $2.8 million insurance scam. For his small role in that incident, Ali was placed on probation.

This time, Ali was in U.S. District Court, where a magistrate judge ordered him to appear with an attorney next week. He was released on a $50,000 bond.

"He presented himself to patients as a chiropractor and as a physical therapist," the government alleges in court documents.

Sometimes, the government claims, Ali employed a chiropractor on a limited basis. Ali has no chiropractic license, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

His business, which treated about 100 people, according to prosecutors, was called the Oasis Holistic Healing Village and was in an elegant stone building on the 300 block of South 17th Street. The office is closed, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Leahy said.

Ali allegedly used the name and provider number of a licensed chiropractor to file claims with Blue Cross. The indictment says Ali purchased the chiropractic business from a licensed practitioner in 2008, and in 2009 started filing illegal claims.

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