A Florida pain management physician has agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims for fentanyl prescriptions that were medically unnecessary and written in exchange for kickback payments.
Edward Lubin, MD, allegedly knowingly and willfully accepted approximately $159,580 in kickback payments in return for prescribing Subsys by Insys Therapeutics, the manufacturer of the drug, according to an Oct. 27 news release from the Justice Department.
The United States has alleged that the kickbacks were disguised as payment for speaking at "events" that lasted a few minutes, never occurred or had repeat attendees. Dr. Lubin allegedly submitted more than 400 false claims for Subsys to the Medicare and Tricare programs, violating both the False Claims Act and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the release said.