Below are seven physicians who have been involved or are allegedly involved in healthcare fraud cases reported by Becker's since Oct. 17.
1. Oakland, Calif.-based physician Henry Watson, MD, was convicted for accepting kickbacks for patient referrals, healthcare fraud and false statements from 2013 to 2019.
2. Tampa, Fla.-based pain management physician Edward Lubin, MD, agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve allegations he submitted medically unnecessary claims for fentanyl prescriptions in exchange for kickback payments. Dr. Lubin allegedly accepted around $159,580 in kickback payments from fentanyl-spray manufacturer Insys in return for prescribing their products.
3. New York pain management specialist Duane Dixon, MD, pleaded guilty to unlawful opioid distribution and healthcare fraud. Dr. Dixon, along with a co-conspirator, were charged with conspiring to distribute opioids without a medical purpose across several Virginia clinics operated by L5 Medical Holdings between 2014 and 2019.
4. Metairie, La.-based physician Alex Glotser, MD, pleaded guilty to submitting $5.6 million of fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary equipment and genetic testing. Dr. Glotser signed thousands of physicians' orders for durable medical equipment and cancer genetic testing for Medicare beneficiaries he neither met nor treated while working as an independent contractor for telemedicine companies between 2017 and 2019.
5. Brian Hyatt, MD, a psychiatrist and former head of Arkansas' state medical board, pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of Medicaid fraud. An affidavit alleged that Dr. Hyatt, who previously served as medical director of the behavioral health unit at Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, Ark., billed Medicaid for the most expensive billing codes while running the unit despite rarely being onsite at the facility. More than 40 patients also accused Dr. Hyatt in civil lawsuits of imprisoning them against their will while running the behavioral health unit between February 2018 and May 2022.
6. Raphael Malikian, MD, a former physician based in Llano and Palmdale, Calif., pleaded guilty to federal narcotics charges for illegally dispensing and prescribing controlled substances. Dr. Malikian issued prescriptions for controlled substances to customers without first obtaining the person's full medical history, conducting a physical examination, requiring medical testing or utilizing diagnostic tools from at least December 2019 to August 2021.
7. Kenai, Alaska-based physician Ray Lynn Carlson, MD, and his clinics' managers were indicted on 23 charges in a Medicare fraud case. From 2014 to 2019, Dr. Carlson allegedly fraudulently billed Alaska Medicaid, along with Aetna and Premera, from his clinics based in Kenai and Nikiski, Alaska.