Trial Begins for Clinic Owner Charged With Defrauding Federal Comp Program

Monday, June 10, 2019 | 0

The operator of several San Antonio-based physical therapy clinics went on trial Thursday, accused of defrauding the federal workers' compensation program out of millions of dollars.

Prosecutors said Rafael Enrique Rodriguez, 51, who operates 210Workers clinics, billed the federal program for services that were never given to federal workers, or for services billed as handled by a physician but were actually done by unlicensed technicians, according to a news report.

Rodriguez has denied the charges.

Authorities said most of the patients at the clinics were postal workers and employees of the Veterans Affairs Administration. U.S. Attorney Greg Surovic said the clinics filed claims for physician services for one-on-one contact with patients, but many of the services were actually provided by untrained assistants and in group settings.

“Some of them had a little experience; some of them had none,” Surovic told the local newspaper. “They were told by Mr. Rodriguez to go pull exercises from websites.”

Rodriguez's lawyer said the clinic owner had no criminal intent.

“They say, 'You must have known,'” defense attorney Mike McCrum said. “But we'll show he was following a business model used by various physicians and how he fully believed he was doing the right thing.”