On October 17, 2011 Ken Pringle gave a presentation on the “PIP Conveyor Belt” at the 14th Annual New Jersey Insurance Fraud Summit in the Taj Mahal hotel in Atlantic City.
The presentation outlined PIP fraud schemes that begin with the solicitation and recruitment of claimants immediately following an auto accident, and that rely upon kickbacks and other unlawful inducements to encourage the claimants’ referral from healthcare provider to healthcare provider, all the way to and including surgical and invasive pain management procedures in an Ambulatory Surgical Center or hospital setting. Pringle coined the “Conveyor Belt” term to describe the pattern of progression of treatment and procedures that PIP claimants undergo when they are recruited into a Conveyor Belt scheme.
The presentation was attended by approximately 100 people, including representatives of the NJ Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, the NJ Department of Banking and Insurance, Bureau of Fraud Deterrence, county prosecutors and insurance company executives.