Your office phone rings, and it is one of your patients; whom you seldom see on the other line, complaining about a diagnosis you commonly see in your practice. The patient is too weak to leave his house, so he tells you mail his prescription script.

Is this ok?

No. Why? The emphasis of this scenario is the word “seldom”. Under the New York State Education law prohibits physicians from evaluating and writing prescriptions without an initial physician examination.

A patient who has not seen the doctor over a month of time, and has not had the same diagnosis as before, is required to see the physician again. Otherwise, the physician may write a new prescription, only if he has seen the patient’s medical records and concludes that a prescription is necessary.

Even if the patient who called is an existing and current patient, a phone evaluation is not an advised practice for physicians and physician’s assistants due to the high probability of professional misconduct investigation by the Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) and the Office of Professions Discipline (OPD).

If you have recently received a letter from the OPMC or the OPD regarding an incident of professional misconduct, then call our New York professional license defense attorneys at (212) 577- 6677 for professional legal advice.

For New York City Medicaid Part D users, obtaining prescriptions for controlled substances may seem easy, since it cost the beneficiary relatively low to no cost, even for controlled substances such as Oxycontin and Oxycodone. As long the physician deems the beneficiary necessary to take the controlled substance, Medicaid will most likely cover it.

It is because of the more lax distribution within Medicaid beneficiaries that they are more susceptible to prescription fraud in New York City, such as selling or distributing their prescriptions to uninsured individuals.

But unbeknownst to many laypersons in New York City, such prescriptions are heavily monitored by the New York State and Federal scheduling system; all while the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) maintains an oversight in this area.

In New York, the State Department of Health’s Bureau of Controlled Substances (BCS) and the State Department of Education requires that certain controlled substances be prescribed with only an official New York State form, and be reported to the Department of Health (DOH). Once the misappropriated act is discovered, it is very likely that an investigation for both prescription fraud and Medicaid fraud will be launched.

In many prescription fraud cases, it is offset by an investigation of Medicaid-recipient fraud. One of the signs the Bureau of Fraud Investigation team looks for are consistent and multiple charges on Medicaid for the same controlled substance without returning a visit to a physician.

Prescription fraud charges encompasses hefty criminal consequences such as up to 5 years of incarceration, a felony on your criminal record, and fines. It is thus advisable to contact a skillful and experienced New York State and Federal Criminal Defense Attorney at the onset of an investigation to mitigate your risks and maximize your defense.

If you are currently being investigated for prescription fraud in New York City, please call our office at (212) 577-6677.

A New York State licensed pharmacist is prohibited from making changes to a prescription for any schedule II drugs. The most commonly investigated prescription fraud cases involve Oxycodone, Vicodin, Valium, and Soma. Even when the prescription seems like the doctor has made a mistake with the dosage, it is advisable that the pharmacist takes the extra step to discuss the prescription with doctor and have the doctor issue a new prescription.

However, if the prescription in question is a schedule III or IV controlled substance, the pharmacist, with verification from the physician may be able to alter the patient’s address, the dosage, the strength, and the quantity of the controlled substance.

But keep in mind that all these changes may be made only if the change does not violate any New York State and federal regulatory laws or policies that prohibit changes to controlled substance prescriptions.

The pharmacist is prohibited from changing the patient’s name, exchanging one controlled substance for a different controlled substance, and signing the doctor’s name on the prescription. These acts may constitute fraud in the eyes of the U.S. Drug, Enforcement Administration (DEA), the New York State Department of Health and other regulatory departments in both the state and federal platforms.

Under these circumstances, New York State legal authorities can track and monitor discrepancies between what the physician prescribed and what the pharmacist gave to the patient can be found through the Prescription Drug Monitoring Project (PDMP), which tracks and monitors prescriptions.

If you are recently being investigated by the DEA or New York State Board of Health, for prescription fraud in New York, then call our office at (212) 577-6677 to get professional legal assistance.

Yes and no. For the longest time healthcare professionals who have the authority to prescribe medicine were being penalized both criminally and administratively for the common practice of “doctor shopping” by patients.

“Doctor shopping” refers to the patient visiting numerous doctors to fraudulently get prescription drugs. Patients who have this addiction usually do not have to be extremely creative to get the prescription because doctors often rely on their own instant judgment in the office and do not double check the patient’s information. As a result, patients faced a high risk of overdosing, and the doctors faced a criminal investigation for illicit prescriptions.

However, in New York State, the legislature has implemented the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) to impede patients from “doctor shopping”.  The PDMP in New York is a statewide electronic database, which tracks designated data on controlled substances dispensed through state issued prescription pads.  Controlled substances such as Vicodin, Valium, Soma, Oxycontin and Xanax are strictly monitored by the PDMP.

If the PDMP detects any suspicious activity of illicit prescriptions they refer the case to the New York State Attorney General’s Office for investigation and prosecution. Investigators would then track back the prescriptions to the medical practitioner to determine if they have reason to belief that he/she has knowingly and intentionally issued the prescription when it was medically unnecessary, and perhaps dangerous to the patient.

A practitioner who is under investigation by the government for illicit prescription would most likely receive a subpoena requesting the production of patient medical records. In such cases, the government does not have enough information to issue a search warrant and is requesting the practitioner to voluntarily submit evidence. In order to protect the himself/herself of self-incrimination, the practitioner should remain calm and call a criminal defense attorney before submitting anything to the government.

If you are recently being investigated or charged for illicit prescriptions of controlled substances in New York, then call our office at (212) 577-6677 to get professional legal assistance.

Nassau County dentist Russell Barber was arrested in 2009 for criminal sale of prescription for a controlled substance. According to the criminal complaint, Barber, a drug addict, had been writing out prescriptions for painkillers in other peoples’ names and then filling the prescriptions himself.

Last week, Dr. Barber pleaded guilty in diversion court in Nassau County. Barber will be allowed to enter the “diversion program” established in 2009 by a change to NYS Rockefeller Drug Laws. Under the new law, criminal court judges, in their discretion, may send non-violent drug addicts to treatment instead of jailing them. Barber now has to complete an 18 months drug rehabilitation program under court supervision. Barber also had to surrender his dental license as part of the plea.