Fired UPMC radiologist indicted for unlawful prescriptions
A former UPMC radiologist has been indicted on federal charges of health care fraud and illegally distributing pain pills, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
A grand jury in U.S. District Court on Wednesday returned the 88-count indictment against Dr. Omar A. Almusa, 45, of Shadyside. It was unsealed Friday.
Dr. Almusa already had been charged by UPMC police with prescribing pills to nonpatients in exchange for money and favors. create unlawfully The that and federal “Almusa submit for dispensed Vicodin indictment unlawful conspired those and then controlled prescriptions alleges to without substances a legitimate to other medical persons purpose,” a press release from U.S. District Court said. “Almusa is also charged with health care fraud for allegedly submitting fraudulent claims to UPMC Health Plan for payments to cover the costs of the unlawfully prescribed Vicodin.”
A UPMC spokeswoman declined to comment.
Attorney David Cercone, who represents Dr. Almusa,
said he couldn’t discuss the allegations because he had not seen the federal court paperwork.
Dr. Almusa and another UPMC radiologist, Marios Papachristou, 43, of Hampton, were charged by UPMC police March 1 with conspiracy in the administration of a controlled substance and prohibited acts. UPMC has since terminated both doctors.
Mr. Cercone said he expects the trial for Dr. Almusa to proceed at the federal level.
Dr. Almusa’s indictment was the second in Western Pennsylvania since U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the formation of the Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit, according to the court news release.
“One of the goals of the Health Care Fraud Task Force is to identify and target doctors who are illegally prescribing dangerous drugs and putting people at risk in our community,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Johnson said in a statement. “The FBI views this crime as a severe problem and today’s arrest sends a clear message that we, along with our law enforcement and industry partners, are dedicated to stopping this type of activity.”
UPMC police received a complaint Feb. 15 that Dr. Almusa prescribed a pain reliever to people who were not his patients, according to a criminal complaint.
Police said they reviewed Dr. Almusa’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program report and found that he prescribed nearly 6,000 pills to three people between Jan. 1, 2016, and Feb. 19. The complaint does not name the recipients of the pills from Dr. Almusa, but it identified one of them as the spouse of Dr. Papachristou.
Police also reviewed Dr. Papachristou’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program report and found he prescribed 3,600 pills of the drug to two people between Jan. 1, 2016 and Feb. 20, according to the complaint.
Police said one of the people Dr. Papachristou prescribed the drugs to was “a family member of a relative of Dr. Almusa,” and the other person was a friend of Dr. Almusa.
The complaint does not provide any details about what the doctors allegedly received in return for the prescriptions.