Federal Investigation Into Spine Surgeries Uses Mob Laws to Target Health Care Fraud
By Fred Schulte / February 8, 2022
A Texas consulting company that arranges spine surgery and other medical care for people injured in car crashes has come under scrutiny in a widening federal bribery investigation.
Meg Health Care, run by Dallas personal injury attorney Manuel Green and his wife, Melissa Green, is the focus of a search warrant recently unsealed by a Massachusetts federal court in an alleged health care fraud prosecution there. The probe is unusual because it uses a little-known law meant to crack down on organized crime racketeering across state lines.
Investigators alleged in the 2019 affidavit that the Texas company accepted thousands of dollars in bribes from SpineFrontier, a Massachusetts medical device company. SpineFrontier; its CEO, Dr. Kingsley Chin; and its chief financial officer, Aditya Humad, were indicted in September on charges of paying kickbacks to surgeons. All have pleaded not guilty.
No charges have been filed against the Greens or their company, and federal officials declined to discuss the investigation, which is detailed in the now-unsealed 2019 search warrant.
The Greens could not be reached for comment.
Meg Health Care sets up spine surgery and other medical treatment through “letters of protection,” or LOPs, legal contracts in which patients agree to pay medical bills using proceeds from a lawsuit or other claims against the party responsible for their injuries. These contracts are common in personal injury cases when people either lack health insurance or choose not to use it to pay for medical treatments after an accident. The downside is that patients can be left to foot the bill if their cases settle for less than they owe.
