Indian-origin doctor Neil K Anand who was convicted for US health care fraud earlier this year has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for pushing his patients to accept goody bags of sedatives that they did not need so that he could get insurance money. The 48-year-old Pennsylvania doctor was also ordered to pay over $2 million in restitution and over $2 million in forfeiture.
Blank prescriptions pre-signed by Anand
Layers of irregularities were uncovered in the investigation as apart from forcing patients to take medicines that they did not need, he pre-signed prescriptions where his interns, with no license to prescribe medicines, wrote controlled substances. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Dr Anand conspired to submit false and fraudulent claims to health plans provided by Medicare, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Independence Blue Cross (IBC), and Anthem, for “Goody Bags” of medically unnecessary prescription medications, which were dispensed to patients by in-house pharmacies owned by Anand. In total, Medicare, OPM, IBC, and Anthem paid over $2.4 million in reimbursements. To entice patients to take the unwanted Goody Bags, Anand also conspired to distribute oxycodone outside the usual course of medical practice and without a legitimate medical purpose. Unlicensed medical interns wrote prescriptions for controlled substances using blank prescriptions that were pre-signed by Anand. As part of the scheme, Anand prescribed 20,850 oxycodone tablets for nine different patients. After learning that he was under investigation, Anand concealed the proceeds of the fraud by transferring approximately $1.2 million into an account in the name of a relative and for the benefit of a minor relative.
Anand disputed allegations, said he treated victims of 9/11, was US Navy’s physician
Dr Anand and his family disputed the allegations and said his compassion for patients was unfairly criminalized. He treated victims of 9/11 attacks in New York City in 2001 and then enlisted in the US Navy as a physician. “The law has spoken for now, but the deeper questions remain: What is healing? What is justice? Where’s the line between mercy and misconduct?” Anand said. US District Judge Chad F Kenney said he believed Anand had grown to be motivated by greed and illicit profits and not the needs of his patients. “For you, their pain was your gain,” Kenney said. “You were not focused during this period on treating your patients.”Dr Anand was charged in 2019 and as his trial went for years, several groups on social media claimed that he became a victim of government propaganda and sought support. “The government is using artificial intelligence and manipulated data to prosecute me for treating chronic pain patients, turning tools meant to help into weapons against doctors,” Dr Anand wrote earlier in a blog seeking support.
