New Hyde Park Chiropractor Charged With Health Care Fraud: Feds

NEW HYDE PARK, NY — A New Hyde Park chiropractor used the identities of three per diem chiropractors to submit insurance claims, bilking insurance carriers of over $800,000, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced in a news release on Tuesday.

Between 2014 and 2016, Melissa Panayiota Kanes, 50, used the identities of other chiropractors practicing in Manhattan to hide her association with the claims because she was previously flagged for submitting numerous claims, prosecutors said. In one instance, she used the identity of another chiropractor from an office near her own, in another, she submitted claims for services under a chiropractor’s identity when she was traveling outside the United States, prosecutors said.

She was charged with one count each of money laundering, health care fraud, and aggravated identity theft, prosecutors said. She faces anywhere between the mandatory two years in prison based on the identity theft charge, and up to 20 years in prison based on the top charge of money laundering, prosecutors said.

She was arrested on Tuesday on Long Island, prosecutors said.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said Kanes filed numerous fraudulent health insurance claims, and they were so many so that an insurer “flagged her for suspicious billing, at which point she tried to circumvent the scrutiny by filing claims in the names of other chiropractors without their knowledge.”

“Now Melissa Kanes is in custody and facing federal charges,” she said.

The name of Kane’s attorney was not immediately available.

FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. described the charges against Kanes as “serious ones” that carry the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence.

“This case should serve as a warning to others unwilling to make adjustments to their illegal behavior – the federal criminal justice system could be just what the doctor ordered,” he said.

Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Special Agent-in-Charge Jonathan Larsen called Kanes charges “particularly troubling because once the fraudulent activities were detected, she allegedly continued the activities using additional concealment methods.”

“While the vast majority of health care providers are operating in good faith to take care of patient needs, it is the role of [the agency] and our law enforcement partners to bring to justice the small percentage of providers who are knowingly abusing the health care system for personal profit,” he said.

Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration New York Regional Director Thomas Licetti said health care fraud is “detrimental to workers, employers and the entire healthcare system” and the agency is “proud to partner with its fellow federal agencies in protecting hard-earned employee benefits.”