US authorities have sentenced Mashiyat Rashid, the CEO of a Michigan and Ohio-based Tri-County Wellness Group of pain clinics and other medical providers, to 15 years in jail for administering unnecessary back injections to patients in exchange for prescriptions of over 6.6 million doses of medically unnecessary opioids. Rashid is only the second defendant that the authorities have sentenced yet in this scheme that involved 21 other people.
Between 2008-16, the Tri-County Wellness Group clinics had a policy to offer patients, with or without legitimate pain, prescriptions of Oxycodone 30 mg, if they agreed to get unnecessary back injections. The clinics targeted the Medicare program, specifically patients from homeless shelters and soup kitchens. The clinics denied medication to patients, including opioid addicts, who disagreed to taking the injections, forcing the patients to submit to the scheme. Furthermore, Rashid only hired physicians who agreed to set aside patient care for financial gains.
In addition to the prison sentence, the US authorities have ordered Rashid to pay over $51 million in restitution to Medicare. Rashid will also have to forfeit all properties related to the illicit funds obtained through the health care fraud scheme. These properties include over $11.5 million and residential and commercial real estate among others.
Source: US Department of Justice