View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2017/08/03/460180.htm
The Division of Workers’ Compensation has scheduled lien consolidation proceedings in August for suspended providers Michael D. Drobot, Michael R. Drobot and Philip A. Sobol.
Combined, the three have roughly 13,000 liens, which have been consolidated pursuant to the chief judge’s order, in the workers’ compensation system pending further determination, according to the DWC.
Michael D. Drobot, former CEO and owner of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, pled guilty for his role in a scheme to illegally refer patients for spinal surgeries. DWC suspended him from participating in the California workers’ compensation system on April 28.
Michael R. Drobot operated California Pharmacy Management and Industrial Pharmacy Management, companies that also participated in the kickback scheme. The son of Michael D. Drobot, he pled guilty in U.S. District Court last year to conspiracy and illegal kickback charges and was suspended May 15.
Philip Sobol, an orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles, was suspended in May based on a criminal conviction involving fraud and abuse of the workers’ compensation system. Sobol pled guilty for participating in the kickback scheme at Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, illegally referring thousands of his patients for spinal surgeries.
Where suspension is due to conviction of a covered crime, a new law, Assembly Bill 1244, mandates that all of the provider’s liens must be adjudicated in the special lien proceeding arise from the conduct subjecting the provider to suspension, and that payment is not due and should not be made on those liens.
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