Commissioners will consider closing a loophole that exempts medical clinics from licensure requirements if a physician's name is on the license application.
On the night of June 9, 2009, Haley Morris was involved in a suspicious accident while driving her grandmother's car.

Betty Morris said Tuesday her granddaughter rear-ended another car that had unexpectedly slammed on its brakes as they drove through an intersection. The vehicles were barely damaged; the three men and a boy in the other car appeared unhurt.

Later, however, Betty Morris got letters from law firms demanding compensation for the four males' medical bills. The letters said a chiropractor at a rehabilitation clinic found the four suffered from back and neck injuries, including bulging and herniated spinal discs.

"I couldn't believe these people had all these injuries from this one little bump," Morris said Tuesday.

The accident bore many of the hallmarks of staged-accident fraud, a crime that has exploded in Hillsborough County in three years. This afternoon, county commissioners will consider an ordinance to address the issue.

Florida is a national leader in staged accident fraud. One reason is the state's Personal Injury Protection insurance, which requires insurers to pay up to $10,000 in medical costs per accident victim no matter who is at fault.

Sheriff's investigators say criminals load a car full of "victims" so they can each collect the maximum $10,000 PIP payout.

Florida law also has a loophole that exempts clinics from licensure requirements if a physician's name is on the license application. It's a loophole "you can drive a truck through," said Chris Brown, legal counsel for the sheriff's office.

"Physicians are allowing their names to be used for exemptions for clinics that they have nothing to do with," Brown said. The doctors are paid for their signatures.

The ordinance is aimed at any clinic with 50 percent or more of its clients claiming PIP reimbursement, or that bills insurers for $200,000 or more annually in PIP claims.

Those clinics would have to designate a physician who would actively practice there. The doctor would also have to have his or her name on the clinic's bank accounts and liability insurance.

The county would have the right to inspect the clinics "as necessary."

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