Surgeon indicted on health care fraud counts

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted a Milwaukee spinal surgeon on 13 counts of federal health care fraud.

Dr. Cully White, 44, faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 on each count if he’s convicted.

According to the indictment, White was the owner and operator of a Milwaukee-based neurosurgery business. In October 2010 he recruited another doctor identified only as K.B. to prepare reports showing K.B. had conducted nerve monitoring during White’s surgeries. White agreed to pay K.B. $150 for each report.

K.B. had no training or experience in performing nerve monitoring and never conducted any monitoring during White’s procedures but still prepared reports, the indictment said. Still, White submitted claims to insurance companies totaling more than $265,000 for K.B.’s services based on the fraudulent reports. He received $82,000 and paid K.B. $14,250, prosecutors said in a statement.

The grand jury returned the indictment in Milwaukee on Tuesday. Prosecutors announced the charges Thursday.

White is scheduled to appear at an arraignment in federal court in Milwaukee on Thursday.

Online court records list White’s attorneys as Sean Bosack and Dennis Coffey. Bosack declined comment Friday, saying he is withdrawing as White’s attorney because White has chosen to go with Coffey. Coffey didn’t immediate return a message.