Becker's Spine Review

8 SPINE SURGEONS Neurologist found guilty in $150M fraud scheme alongside 3 other physicians By Angie Stewart A federal jury convicted neurologist Mohammed Zahoor, MD, and three other physicians of participating in a $150 million healthcare fraud scheme, the Department of Justice announced Feb. 4. e four-week trial also culminated in convictions for Michigan pulmonologist Tariq Omar, MD, and emergen- cy medicine specialists Spilios Pappas, MD, and Joseph Betro, DO, of Ohio and Michigan, respectively. While working at several Tri-County Group medical clinics in Michigan and Ohio from 2008-16, Drs. Zahoor, Omar, Pappas and Betro allegedly required patients to re- ceive expensive, medically unnecessary services such as facet joint injections and urinary drug screens in order to obtain prescriptions for opioids, benzodiazepines and other narcotics. Patients who told the physicians they didn't "want, need or benefit from" the expensive, unnecessary injections were denied prescriptions until they agreed to have them. e defendants prescribed over 6.6 million doses of opi- oids and regularly offered patients 30 milligrams of oxy- codone, a dosage only deemed suitable for terminally ill cancer patients. Some of their patients suffered from legitimate pain, and others were drug dealers or opioid addicts. In certain cases, the unnecessary shots made pa- tients' pain worse or led to adverse conditions, including open holes in the back. In an "assembly line" type operation, the four physicians would see dozens of patients during shis ranging from two to four hours, prosecutors said. e defendants were paid up to $3,500 an hour by falsely representing medical necessity and exaggerating time spent with patients on Medicare claims. e physicians were also involved in a scheme to send urine tests for every patient to National Laboratories, a business owned by a co-conspirator, in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks. e physicians' sentencing hearings are scheduled for July. Each was found guilty of one count of healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud. Previously, 17 other defendants, including eight physicians, pleaded guilty in connection with the case. n Murder trial begins for neurosurgeon accused of over- prescribing opioids, could serve life in prison By Alan Condon S anta Rosa, Calif.-based neurosurgeon Thomas Keller, MD, faces a potential prison term of 60 years to life for allegedly killing four patients by overprescribing opioids from 2011- 17, The Press Democrat reports. The trial began Jan. 29. Dr. Keller is accused of the second-degree murder of four Sonoma County, Calif., residents. On the first day of testimony, prosecutors told the court how a fe- male patient died after overdosing on oxycodone, two days after Dr. Keller prescribed her 120 pills in 2014. Dr. Keller is also charged with four felony counts of providing pre- scriptions without legitimate medical purposes linked to four other patients and one count of elder abuse. He was arrested in August and remains in Sonoma County Jail, with bail set at $12 million. Dr. Keller previously served a six-month prison term after he was found guilty of engaging in sexual misconduct with several pa- tients in 1989, according to The Press Democrat. His medical li- cense was revoked after his conviction but reinstated in 1994. n Ex-Olympic sports medicine chief sues, claims he was fired for reporting sexual abuse By Alan Condon B ill Moreau, DC, filed a whistleblower lawsuit Feb. 7 against the U.S. Olympic Committee, claiming that the organization violated federal law by waiting five days to report the sexual assault of a teenage athlete in 2018, USA Today reports. Dr. Moreau, a chiropractor, former vice president of sports medi- cine for the USOC, claims that he was terminated for challenging the organization's handling of sexual abuse reports and mental health issues. USOC officials told Dr. Moreau he was fired for not having a doctor of medicine degree, but his replacement similarly held a doctor of chiropractic degree, according to the lawsuit. Luella Chavez D'Angelo, chief marketing and communications officer for the USOPC, told The Denver Post Dr. Moreau and his legal team "misrepresented the causes of his separation from the USOPC." n

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