An attorney is calling for state officials to halt what he says are billings for services supposedly performed by Dr. Robert C. Davis.
Davis, who practiced at the Family Medical Center, West Jordan, was sentenced to 56 months in federal prison after he was convicted on 32 counts of fraud, including insurance fraud. He was ordered to begin serving the sentence in November 1993.However, lawyer David G. Challed of Utah Legal Services says former patients of Davis are still being billed, some of them dunned by third parties.
"Some people who have been contacted . . . have agreed to pay something" on their bills, he said. "It's our opinion they shouldn't have to pay one more cent," he said.
Challed said he is involved in three major class-action suits and had not intended to do anything regarding Davis this week. But after the agency was contacted by many people, he decided that the organization should file an action.
"Someone's got to do something for these people," he said.
"Hopefully, the state's attorney general's office or the State Consumer Protection Agency can assist us, because of the magnitude of the number of patients involved."
Some people being billed are innocent victims of Davis, he said.
Any patient who fits a profile he described may assert a minimum $2,000 legal claim not only against Davis, but against others involved, he said. Those who qualify for the claims experienced any of the following:
- Over-billing for actual services provided. For example, Challed said, "They went in for a checkup on a sore throat or the flu, and ended up with a $1,400 bill" for a checkup and throat culture.
- Billing for unnecessary medical tests and procedures.
- Billing for tests and lab work never performed.
- Billing for more medical expenses than allowed under Medicaid or Medicare law. "Medicaid pays for all of it. There shouldn't be any balance," Challed said. Some patients were told they wouldn't have to pay the remaining 10 percent or 20 percent but now are being billed.
- Improper billing.