Indo-American docs charged with fraud

Houston:

An Indian-American doctor couple has been charged with illegally distributing 1.3 million tablets of a controlled drug and defrauding several health insurance companies of a whopping $31 million by filing false claims through their clinics dubbed as 'pill mills'.

In a 29-count indictment, doctor Arun Sharma and his wife Kiran, both 54, have been charged with conspiracy to unlawfully dispense and distribute controlled substances outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose, the FBI said in a statement.

Upon conviction, each of the 17 health care fraud counts and the healthcare conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in a federal prison and $250,000 fine. The drug conspiracy and each of the 10 drug distribution counts carries a penalty of five-year imprisonment and $250,000 fine.

The indictment alleged that the two doctors, who operate the Allergy, Asthma, Arthritis and Pain Centers located on Cole Street in Webster and another on Garth Road in Baytown, illegally distributed 1.3 million tablets of hydrocodone.

It further charged them with conspiracy to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and several private health insurance companies of $31 million by filing false claims for medical procedures that were never performed.

According to allegations in the indictment returned by a federal grand jury on Thursday, Arun routinely saw in excess of 70 patients per day and routinely wrote prescriptions for hydrocodone that were not for a legitimate medical purpose, in exchange for cash payments.

Arun allegedly received the cash payments for his hydrocodone prescriptions directly from his patients and instructed them to take the prescriptions to certain pharmacies to be filled, the FBI said on Friday.

Arun and Kiran Sharma, according to the indictment, allegedly stored large amounts of cash received from the sale of hydrocodone prescriptions at their home. Kiran also allegedly transported huge sums of money to two safe deposit boxes - one each at Bank of America and Prosperity Bank.

In one count, the doctors are charged with prescribing more than 8,000 tablets of hydrocodone to one patient over an eight-month period.

Sharmas have been ordered to appear in a federal court for arraignment on August 3.

Almost as potent as morphine, hydrocodone is a cough suppressant and analgesic for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.