Twelve BlueCross BlueShield Association insurance plans filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday against nine surgery clinics in California, as well as 21 doctors and 13 owners, employers or administrators of the clinics, alleging their involvement in “an elaborate insurance scheme” involving thousands of patients from 47 states and more than $1 billion in fraudulent insurance claims, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 3/12). About 90 other insurance companies also were billed for unnecessary surgeries in the alleged scheme, the Los Angeles Times reports (Reza/Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times, 3/12).
