California Doctor Indicted in $700K Workers’ Comp Fraud Scheme

Dr. Gary Royce Wisner, 61, of Lodi, Calif., is scheduled for arraignment today at the San Joaquin County Superior Court on 11 felony counts of insurance fraud for allegedly bilking insurers out of more than $700,000 by providing unnecessary and excessive medical treatment for orthopedic patients.

The California Department of Insurance, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, the California Department of Justice Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services launched a multi-agency investigation that reportedly showed Wisner was providing unnecessary treatments for the purpose of committing insurance fraud.

Wisner’s fraud reportedly resulted in a loss of over $700,000 to four insurers including State Compensation Insurance Fund, Zenith Insurance, Hartford and Tristar, the federal insurance system.

“Dr. Wisner violated his Hippocratic Oath when he allegedly abused his patients and the workers’ compensation system to line his pockets with illegal profits,” Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said in a statement. “When medical providers scam the system, everybody loses, including the injured workers, their employers and consumers when the losses are passed along to them through higher prices for goods and services.”

On May 30, a San Joaquin County criminal grand jury indicted Wisner on 11 felony counts of insurance fraud. The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting this case.