State board files suit to get money from physical therapy license revocation

CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia Board of Physical Therapy is suing over a dispute that arose after it revoked a physical therapist's license.

The West Virginia Board of Physical Therapy filed a lawsuit March 31 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Ferdinand Sorongon.

According to the complaint, on Jan. 26, 2012, the Kanawha Circuit Court upheld the Aug. 29, 2011, decision of the board to revoke Sorongon's physical therapy license and assessed more than $27,000 owed the board by Sorongon.

The board says a Nov. 5, 2013, Supreme Court of Appeals decision partly upheld the decision in part and reversed it in part in reference to Sorongon's supervision of physical therapy aides.

According to the lawsuit, on Dec. 20, the revocation was upheld along with the $27,000 owed, which Sorongon did not dispute.

The board is seeking the money owed. It is being represented in the case by assistant attorney general Katherine A. Campbell. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib.

As far back as 2010, the FBI and the West Virginia Board of Physical Therapy were investigating Sorongon and his Kanawha Valley Physical Therapy Center in Dunbar for health care and insurance fraud.

According to documents, Sorongon also had his physical therapy license suspended for 12 months back in 2003 for allowing an unlicensed employee to work as an occupational therapist.

In 2009, Sorongon was put on a two-year probationary period and was required to pay fines for lack of supervision over patients. He was also then subjected to random inspections of his business.

During one of these random inspections in February 2010, investigators found irregularities in services and billing. Sorongon allegedly then tried covering up false claims made to private insurance companies as well as Medicare and Medicaid.

Kanawha Circuit Court Case No. 14-C-638