Philadelphia Dentist, Daughter Charged With $5-Million Insurance Fraud
By Mark Abrams and Natasha Brown
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia dentist and his daughter are charged with submitting nearly $5 million in fraudulent claims to insurance companies for a procedure to relieve chronic pain in patients.
But a grand jury investigation found the treatment wasn't anywhere close to what they said it was.
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams says a Philadelphia grand jury returned recommendations for theft, fraud, and related charges against 71-year-old Dr. Owen Rogal of Center City and his daughter, 50-year-old Kim Rogal.
"The grand jury found that Dr. Rogal and Ms. Rogal used a legitimate business, The Pain Center, at 501 South 12th Street, to systematically defraud 15 insurance companies by knowingly submitting falsified billing documents for reimbursement," DA Williams said today.
Williams says that over a nine-year-period, Rogal hired a series of doctors to work at the Pain Center and perform a procedure called radio frequency surgery, involving a needle and heat generated through it by a radio signal.
But the DA says Kim Rogal billed insurance companies for a much more complex and dangerous procedure.
Williams says the Rogals used the doctors' identifications to make the billings, and later had the doctors sign over the proceeds to the center.
The Rogals surrendered to authorities on Wednesday.
