Thief River Falls Chiropractor Sentenced To 27 Months In Prison For Wire Fraud And Identity Theft

United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald today announced the sentencing of STEVEN RICHARD WISETH, 36, a Thief River Falls chiropractor, to 27 months in prison for wire fraud. WISETH, who pleaded guilty on January 17, 2019, was sentenced today before Judge Patrick J. Schiltz in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addressing WISETH’s fraud scheme and other similar schemes that have occurred within the chiropractic profession, Judge Schiltz stated, “There seems to be a lot of rot in that profession and deterrence seems to be much needed,” and further stated that WISETH’s fraud was a “part of his routine business practice.”

According to his guilty plea and documents filed in court, from approximately March 2013 through April 2015, WISETH, a Doctor of Chiropractic and owner of Health Quest Family Chiropractic (“Health Quest”) in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, orchestrated a scheme to defraud health insurers by submitting and causing the submission of false and fraudulent claims for chiropractic services.

WISETH’S scheme was dependent on maximizing patient volume at Health Quest, and he held promotional events where he gave away free food and drink, prizes, and gift certificates to induce current and prospective patients to visit Health Quest. After the promotional events, WISETH billed insurance companies for the provision of chiropractic services to substantial numbers of individuals who attended the events, including billing for services that were not provided. In some cases, WISETH used the personal and insurance information of attendees to bill the individuals’ insurance companies for services that were not provided, unbeknownst to the attendee. For example, on February 13, 2014, WISETH held a promotional event at Health Quest that he referred to as “ValenSpine’s Day.” WISETH submitted bills to insurance companies representing that he had treated approximately 219 patients on that day, purporting to have provided approximately 641 services.

WISETH also admitted to submitting false bills for services by misrepresenting the services that were actually provided to patients. For example, WISETH routinely submitted false bills for treatment with a “wobble chair,” which is a device intended to develop core strength. WISETH represented to insurers that the services were performed for at least eight minutes under the direct supervision of a healthcare professional when, in fact, WISETH merely stocked his clinics’ waiting rooms with wobble chairs so that patients would sit in them while waiting for their appointments.

Over the course of the two-year scheme, WISETH billed the insurance companies more than $3.1 million dollars, including bills for hundreds of treatments that were not provided or were overbilled, and the insurance companies paid WISETH and Health Quest more than $1.1 million.

This case was the result of an investigation conducted by the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amber M. Brennan prosecuted the case.

Defendant Information:

STEVEN RICHARD WISETH, 36

Thief River Falls, Minn.

Convicted:

• Wire fraud, 1 count

Sentenced:

• 27 months in prison
• One year of supervised release
• $337,195.11 in restitution

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United States Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota: (612) 664-5600