20 Months In Prison For Northbrook Chiropractor's Fraud Scheme

CHICAGO, IL — A Northbrook chiropractor who pleaded guilty to fraud for billing nonexistent or medically unnecessary services was sentenced Tuesday to 20 months in federal prison. Steven Paul, 46, received the lightest sentence possible for the scheme, according to the Department of Justice.

Judge Ronald Guzman made note of Paul's "extraordinary cooperation" with the feds' investigation. Paul and his business partner, co-defendant, and fellow chiropractor Bradley Mattson of Lake Forest pleaded guilty in 2012 to running up $3.65 million in billing for unneeded tests or services that were never provided, according to a Justice Department news release.

Their six clinics, Hawthorn Physical Medicine, Woodfield Physical Medicine, Stratford Physical Medicine, Algonquin Physical Medicine, Northshore Physical Medicine and Cumberland Physical Medicine, ended up defrauding insurance companies of $1.33 million in reimbursements, they admitted five years ago.

An undercover FBI agent visited the Hawthorn clinic during the investigation and claimed to have a back strain, according to the Justice Department.

Mattson diagnosed the agent with a pinched nerve and ordered a treatment plan starting with daily visits for two week–despite the opinion of the clinic’s medical doctor and a physical therapist that the agent did not have a pinched nerve but a pulled muscle.

According to prosecutors, Mattson taught the chiropractors to always use the phrase "pinched nerve," describing it as "a buzzword that was easy for the patient to understand."

After both men pleaded guilty in 2012, Mattson was sentenced to six and a half years in prison. Mattson was released last month, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

A third chiropractor, Neelesh Patel, was also indicted in the alleged conspiracy. He maintained his innocence and had been set to go to trial in April 2014. However, the charges were dropped after he agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement. Patel's license to practice as a chiropractor was revoked in 2014 — shortly thereafter he founded the LifeStyle Chiropractic Network.

According to prosecutors, if Patel had gone to trial, Paul was going to testify about a script that Mattson developed intended to getting patients to agree to as much care as possible.

The script for dealing with patients suggested a few standard responses.

"That's not good," "That's not normal," or "That's a problem," were recommended as the go-to answers anytime a patient mentioned any type of pain, "with the goal of convincing the patient that they had a problem and needed care."

» Read more: Complete 2011 indictment of Bradley Mattson, Steven Paul and Neelesh Patel

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