Allstate sues Palm Beach Gardens doctor, says he faked records for 'dangerous' surgeries
WEST PALM BEACH — A Palm Beach Gardens doctor is accused of fabricating medical records to bill for "extremely dangerous" and unnecessary spinal surgeries — many of which never occurred, lawyers wrote in a lawsuit filed in December.
Attorneys for Allstate Insurance say anesthesiologist Ravi Xavier made a practice of billing insurance companies for treatments that were "excessive, and, in many instances, not performed at all." In some cases, Xavier billed for numerous same-day procedures Allstate said are incompatible and should never be performed in tandem. In others, the doctor billed for spinal injections to alleviate back pain using body positioning the insurance company said was "physiologically impossible."
"That no patients appear to have been severely injured or killed by Florida Anesthesiology is alone evidence that these injections were not performed as billed," wrote attorneys Marc Schechter and Andrew DeNinno.
More: Passenger aboard Margaritaville cruise says she was raped, impregnated by ship bartender
Xavier, the longtime operator and physician of Florida Anesthesiology & Pain Clinic, did not return multiple requests for comment. In addition to his Palm Beach Gardens office, Florida Anesthesiology & Pain Clinic has locations in Orlando, Tampa, Pompano Beach, Pensacola and Miami Gardens.
Lawsuit: Pain clinic falsified records, prioritized profit over patients
The 70-page lawsuit, filed in federal court Dec. 28, describes a pattern of excessive and indiscriminate treatments purportedly carried out on patients' first visits to the clinic. Patients testified that the bulk of these treatments never happened, though Xavier routinely submitted insurance claims indicating otherwise.
Xavier used the same language to describe patients' injuries and symptoms in claims to Allstate regardless of their condition. The descriptions, which often contained identical typos and appeared to be pasted from one file to the next, contradicted what patients told Allstate they actually sought treatment for.
In addition to falsifying symptoms, Allstate claimed that Xavier misrepresented diagnostic radiology results to justify the procedures he billed for. If an MRI did not show a condition that would support a procedure billed, Allstate's attorneys say the doctor claimed it did anyway.
More: New lawsuit against fired Gardens police officer of viral 'unhinged cop' video
Allstate isn't the first to scrutinize Xavier's patient records. The Florida Department of Health filed an administrative complaint against the doctor in 2011 for "failing to keep legible medical records that justify the course of treatment of the patient."
The agency asked the Board of Medicine to restrict his practice or permanently revoke his medical license. The board instead sent a letter of concern, imposed a $2,500 fine and required Xavier to take a course called "Quality Medical Record Keeping for Health Care Professionals."
Personal injury attorneys linked to fraud, plaintiff says
Allstate also accused Xavier of working with personal injury attorneys to perpetuate fraud. According to the lawsuit, attorneys steered their clients — often the victims of car crashes — to the pain clinic knowing Xavier would produce artificially high medical bills, extracting large payments from insurers and larger contingency fees for the patients' attorneys.
Xavier even advertises to personal injury attorneys on his website, promising "testing and procedures that will assist in building a strong case for your clients.”
The only such firm named in the suit is Steinger, Greene & Feiner — formerly Steinger, Iscoe & Greene. Steinger, Iscoe & Greene unraveled in 2019 after two former associates accused Michael Steinger and others of sharing profits with “runners” who unlawfully brought them clients.
Steinger was also accused of instituting a “no surgery, no case” rule to encourage clients to have expensive surgery.
"This practice has clearly continued with referrals of patients to Florida Anesthesiology, which, as detailed herein, immediately billed tens (sometimes hundreds) of thousands of dollars for alleged surgeries and invasive procedures at initial visits and made little-to-no effort to attempt any conservative treatment or to follow up with patients after they were used to generate bills," Allstate's attorneys wrote.
Neither Steinger, nor his partners Sean Greene and Michael Feiner, responded to requests for comment.
Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Allstate sues Palm Beach Gardens pain doctor, claims he faked records
