Grand jury indicts 2 Massachusetts doctors charged with illegal prescriptions
Two Massachusetts doctors whose prescribing rights were stripped by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in early May have been indicted by a grand jury on drug-related charges and one count of Medicaid fraud, the state attorney general’s office announced Tuesday (May 26).
Doctors at West Brookfield Family Medicine, Dr. Jeffrey J. Jones and Dr. He was identified as James C. Wilson III. The defendants were indicted on eight counts of unlawfully prescribing controlled dangerous substances, including opioids, stimulants and benzodiazepines, according to a press release from Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office.
The doctors were also charged with one count each of Medicaid fraud by submitting false claims to the government, according to the release.
A woman who answered the phone at the West Brookfield Family Medicine office said there would be “no comment at this time.”
State Department of Public Health He announced May 11 He said the agency was working with local health departments to mitigate the impact of the May 6 DEA suspension on the two doctors’ patients.
MassHealth suspended all payments to doctors and their partner practices. The federal suspension of licenses to prescribe controlled substances remains in effect, according to a spokesperson for the AG’s office.
The indictment accused the doctors of failing to follow established prescribing protocols, which included maintaining “pain contracts” with patients, performing pill counts, and failing to control a systemwide prescription monitoring program.
Doctors are also accused of prescribing controlled substances to patients showing signs of drug abuse or substance diversion; these behaviors include requests for premature refills and testing positive for illegal substances. The indictment states that some of the prescribed drugs caused drug overdoses or provided suspicious urine samples.
According to the indictment, the patients were taking multiple controlled substances at the same time for years. The indictment alleges that doctors wrote prescriptions for patients who were not receiving treatment in the office.
The state also alleges they wrote prescriptions for various drugs “without a legitimate medical purpose.” These prescriptions led to pharmacies submitting false claims to MassHealth and led to an indictment on fraud charges.
A Worcester County grand jury also indicted the common practice, charging that it submitted false claims to MassHealth for office visits while allegedly issuing illegal prescriptions.
This article was first published on Telegram & Gazette: Grand jury indicts two Massachusetts doctors
