On behalf of the entire Allegiant Experts team, we’d like to wish you all a very happy new year! Yes, we realize that 2020 is already over one week old. But, with this being our first blog of the new decade, we still wanted to offer you our well wishes! We also wanted to reiterate the fact that our team is in the office and ready to assist you with any questions you may have about the clinical expert services we provide.
We had an enjoyable holiday that saw us take off the better part of the last two weeks of the year. We returned to work this past Monday. With the new year now underway, we’re recharged and ready to help attorneys better take on the tasks of trying their health care fraud cases. As you know, our blog has extensively covered cases of health care fraud as they continually pop up all over the country. As we embark on a new year, some things simply remain the same.
Philly doctor get a year in prison for distributing oxycodone.
Yes, unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The 20s have begun, but the opioid crisis that became a major epidemic last decade is still going strong. People like Richard Ira Mintz of Dresher, Pennsylvania sure aren’t helping things along. As reported by the United States Department of Justice yesterday, the 69 year-old has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for the illegal distribution of oxycodone.
He has also been ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. In addition, Mintz has been ordered to serve three years of supervised release and 90 days of home confinement following his release. The sentencing follows Mintz’ guilty plea from March of 2019. He pleaded guilty to no less than eight counts of distributing controlled substances (which was oxycodone) outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.
Mintz has surrendered his medical license and DEA Certificate of Registration.
In a separate DoJ report released yesterday, it is explained that between approximately July 2016 and July 2018, “Mintz worked at a medical practice in Philadelphia where he sold fraudulent and medically unnecessary oxycodone prescriptions. He wrote the prescriptions in the names of three individuals whom he had never met or examined.”
Yesterday, United States Attorney William M. McSwain helped to make the announcement about Mintz’ sentencing. He had this to say about it: “As our District is struggling under the weight of the opioid epidemic, this doctor used his prescription pad to harm rather than heal. He saw an opportunity to make money off of those struggling with addiction and took advantage of the situation out of sheer greed.”
Are you an attorney who is currently trying a health care fraud case?
Please don’t hesitate to contact Allegiant Experts to find out how our clinical expertise may help your case. Our experts have been providing expert clinical services for nearly two decades and can help your team by bridging the disciplines of medicine, coding and billing to ensure accurate payment and data is achieved. Give us a call at 407-217-5831 or email us at info@allegiantexperts.com.