Indian-American neurologist in Louisiana pleads guilty to health care fraud

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An Indian-American neurologist from Mandeville, Louisiana, pleaded guilty March 30, for his role in a scheme to unlawfully prescribe controlled substances, namely oxycodone and hydrocodone, without performing the required face-to-face examinations, and his role in a scheme to commit health care fraud where Medicaid and Medicare paid more than $1.5 million for medications.

According to a press release from the Justice Department, Dr. Anil Prasad, 62, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo of the Eastern District of Louisiana, to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  Sentencing is set for Sept. 4, 2019, before Judge Milazzo.

Apart from prescribing controlled substances without seeing patients, Prasad also knew that his ‘patients’ were getting paid by Medicare and Medicaid, an amount that totaled $1,657,461.15 for those prescriptions, Prasad admitted.

In pleading guilty, Prasad admitted that he conspired with others to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances at a medical clinic that was, in actuality, a pill mill, the press release said.

Prasad admitted that he rarely performed face-to-face examinations of patients at the clinic to determine whether any medical necessity existed for the controlled substances that he dispensed to them.

Instead, Prasad admitted he pre-signed prescriptions for controlled substances for patients.  Those patients then picked up the prescriptions from the clinic after making a cash payment to the clinic.

Prasad also admitted that he pre-signed prescriptions before traveling internationally, and that patients would pick up those prescriptions while he was out of the country.

Further, Prasad admitted that he knew certain patients who received the pre-signed prescriptions used their Medicare and Medicaid benefits to fill the prescriptions at area pharmacies, the press release said.