Doctors Charged in Kickback Case : Medicine: Northridge orthopedist is among the four accused of paying to get workers’ compensation patient referrals.

A Northridge doctor and three other physicians have been charged with paying illegal kickbacks to a medical referral firm that is under investigation for workers compensation fraud.

The physicians allegedly paid for patient referrals from L.A. Management, a former Sherman Oaks firm under investigation for possibly paying kickbacks to get patients from companies that process workers’ compensation claims for some employers and insurers.

The investigation of L.A. Management is unusual because most probes of workers’ compensation fraud target large medical chains that treat employees who have applied for benefits from employers and insurance companies.

Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn said the four doctors--a cardiologist, a surgeon, a psychiatrist and an orthopedist--paid up to $250 per head for patients seeking medical examinations. The physicians were charged Monday in Los Angeles Municipal Court with from one to six misdemeanor counts.

L.A. Management listed a Sherman Oaks mailbox as its business address. However, the firm’s telephone has been disconnected and the company is believed to have shut down some time after investigators seized its bank records in 1992.

Investigators say L.A. Management acted as a middleman between doctors and third-party administrators--insurance service firms that handle workers’ compensation claims for some employers and insurance firms.

Medical referral or marketing firms such as L.A. Management often are used by administrators when they want to get quick doctor’s appointments for workers with injury claims. Doctors, in turn, use referral firms to add more patients to their rosters.

Insurance companies and employers have sought to blame “workers’ comp mills” that treat large numbers of employees as the main cause of expensive abuse in California’s workers’ compensation system. But experts say fraud exists throughout the industry.

The doctors charged were Dr. Gerald Paul, an orthopedist on the staff of Northridge Hospital Medical Center; Dr. Harvey Alpern, a Century City cardiologist; Dr. Ivor Harewood, a Los Angeles surgeon, and Dr. Emil Soorani, a Santa Monica psychiatrist.

Authorities said seized checks indicated that L.A. Management received $1,000 from Paul; $6,750 from Alpern; $5,000 from Harewood, and $4,750 from Soorani. Alpern was charged with six counts of making illegal payments, while Paul was charged with three counts. Harewood and Soorani were each charged with one count.

California law prohibits doctors from paying for referrals on a per-patient basis.

In interviews Tuesday, the doctors denied paying any illegal kickbacks.

Harewood said he paid L.A. Management only to collect unpaid bills. Attorneys for Alpern and Soorani said those doctors used L.A. Management purely for advertising purposes. Referral firms commonly place physicians names’ in directories and other listings of medical services, the lawyers said.

“This is a form of advertising where no one is harmed and patients are helped,” said Leonard Levine, Soorani’s attorney. “The more access they have to doctors, the better their chances of getting the best care.”

But Deputy City Atty. Ruth Kwan, head of the city attorney’s consumer protection unit, said that some checks made out by the doctors to L.A. Management bore notations “specifically relating to patients that were referred.”

According to the search warrant and affidavits in the case, investigators are also looking into whether L.A. Management committed insurance fraud by illegally inflating doctors’ bills.

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Under the alleged scheme, physicians and clinics represented by the firm sent it bills after examining patients. L.A. Management then allegedly inflated the medical charges and passed along the higher bill to third-party administrators.

The higher charge ultimately would be paid by employers. An affidavit said L.A. Management added from $350 to $1,200 to bills.

Investigators also are probing how L.A. Management got its business from administrators. Authorities said they are specifically trying to determine if L.A. Management paid kickbacks to the administrators, any of their employees, or any of the employers and insurers the administrators serve.

If convicted, the four doctors face up to one year in jail and/or a $10,000 fine per count.