You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide
On June 11, 2019, the Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced the arrest of chiropractor Andrea Perrone, D.C. (the owner of Perrone Wellness Center located in Hackensack, NJ) on charges of violating the New Jersey Insurance Fraud Prevention Act. The Prosecutor’s investigation revealed that between December 2015 and October 2018, Dr. Perrone allegedly employed a runner to refer patients to his office, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:21-22.1(a).
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:21-22.1(a), a runner is defined as follows:
…a person who, for a pecuniary benefit, procures or attempts to procure a client, patient or customer at the direction of, request of or in cooperation with a provider whose purpose is to seek to obtain benefits under a contract of insurance or assert a claim against an insured or an insurance carrier for providing services to the client, patient or customer, or to obtain benefits under or assert a claim against a State or federal health care benefits program or prescription drug assistance program [ . . . ].
Dr. Perrone was arrested on May 28, 2019 and is scheduled for a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack, NJ on June 19, 2019.