February 6, 1998

Government fraud investigators are trying to unravel widening scheme in which phony medical bills using names of unsuspecting patients and doctors are being submitted to private insurers; say fake bills are sent out by fictitious companies that pretend to be medical practices or their billing agencies; say these entities operate for few weeks, using postal boxes for their return addresses, then shut down and reopen elsewhere under different names; estimate that fraud has already resulted in over $1 billion in fake claims to scores of insurers; photo (M)

Autos on Friday column assesses Big Three auto makers' promise to produce cleaner vehicles than Federal regulations now require, in exchange for agreement by eight states not to adopt California's even stricter standards; sees little impact on car buyers, since companies can make cars far cleaner without resorting to new components, by refining existing parts; photo; tables showing emissions standards for various classes of vehicles (S)

Night club disk jockeys, once fairly anonymous, have become pop archetypes, discovering new songs, digging up old ones and using technoloy to chop up and reassemble sonic information; some aim for synergy with dancers while others revel in virtuosic technique or delve into obscure corners of repertory; profiles of several of DJ's who reign at dance clubs and lounges in New York; photos; list of venues (M)

Harvey Araton, in Sports of The Times, comments on US men skiiers' poor prospects at Nagano Olympics; interviews Tommy Moe, who was a sensation at 1994 Olympics, winning gold medal in downhill racing, but who has not done much since; photo (M)

Internal company records from tobacco giants, including R J Reynolds Tobacco Co and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp, show how cigarette makers ran advertising campaigns to attract blacks, especially to mentholated brands like Salem and Kool; documents provide new evidence of importance of black smokers to companies; they also have led to calls from African-American and other minority lawmakers, as well as from former Health and Human Services Sec Louis V Sullivan that some proceeds from any tobacco legislation enacted by Congress be directed to minority communities (M)