Blowing the whistle

In November of last year, Daniel McCollum, a South Carolina-based chiropractor, pleaded guilty to illegal kickbacks and defrauding health care programs by billing for unnecessary services. He now faces a $9 million civil judgment, a possible $250,000 criminal fine and up to five years in prison.

McCollum allegedly paid kickbacks to providers for urine drug-testing referrals and then billed federal health care programs for those tests at even higher rates than he paid the lab. Urine tests, which are reportedly standard practice at pain care centers, can cost up to a whopping $4,000 each. McCollum was also accused of writing prescriptions for unnecessary pain creams often without the knowledge or approval of patients’ health care providers. [See “United States Obtains $140 Million in False Claims Act Judgments Against South Carolina Pain Management Clinics,” U.S Department of Justice (DOJ), Sept. 3, 2021, and “Upstate SC chiropractor pleads guilty in pain management fraud; faces prison, $9M judgment,” by Eric Connor, The Post and Courier, Nov 23, 2021.)