Oyster Bay surgeon Philip Rafiy acquitted in workers comp billing fraud case

An Oyster Bay surgeon who was accused of billing his clients' insurance companies for services that were already approved for payment by the New York State Workers' Compensation Board was acquitted on all counts of fraud Thursday, his attorney said.

Philip Rafiy, a veteran orthopedic surgeon, had been charged with double-billing and stealing tens of thousands of dollars in a case that his attorney said never should have been tried.

"He feels good about being vindicated but he feels bad about the fact that he was wrongly accused," said Stephen Scaring of Garden City, Rafiy's defense attorney. "There was an impact on his practice and his reputation."

Scaring said his client was arrested in April 2013 and barred from practicing surgery since then. He was charged with various counts of third- and fourth-degree grand larceny and first-degree falsifying business records.

Rafiy caught the eye of investigators after a municipality complained about his billing practices on invoices generated by Rafiy's Hicksville-based LI Spine and Orthopedics PC, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice's office, which could not be reached for comment.