Allstate Wins $7M From Chiropractor

Allstate Insurance Co. won a civil judgment of more than $7 million this week against a Long Beach-based chiropractor who collected payments from the insurer after allegedly filing false imaging claims.

The judgment, against Daniel H. Dahan and his business, Progressive Diagnostic Imaging, was entered in Los Angeles Superior Court as part of a qui tam suit filed by Allstate and the State of California, according to a statement issued by the insurer. 

According to the Allstate suit, Dahan had used software to render medical opinions and diagnoses, and solicited x-rays and other images from other chiropractors while promising they would be analyzed by radiologists. Instead, he had untrained technicians cut and paste the signatures of radiologists on the reports.

Four radiologists whose names appeared on Progressive Diagnostic's records testified during the action that they had never reviewed the records.

The court ordered Dahan to pay $5.8 million in civil penalties and assessments, along with $1.22 million in legal fees and expenses. 

“Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime,” said Allstate's California Field Vice President Phil Telgenhoff. “Fraud drives up the cost we all pay for insurance and stealing millions of dollars from insurers cannot and will not be tolerated in California or anywhere across the country.”

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ernest M. Hiroshige also ordered Dahan to not run or be be employed by any business engaged in the practice of medicine.

A call to Dahan's Long Beach home went unanswered. On a defunct page on his website for his practice, Dahan accused Allstate of refusing to pay for legitimate care provided by chiropractors for workers' compensation and personal injury claimants.