Ohio Doctors Accused Of Taking Kickbacks For Prescriptions

GATES MILLS, OH — Two doctors and two drug company salesmen have been indicted for their roles in a kickback conspiracy. The doctors are accused of receiving money for writing prescriptions of Nuedexta.

Nuedexta is used to treat pseudobulbar affect (PBA), a condition characterized by involuntary and sudden episodes of uncontrollable laughing and crying.

Deepak Raheja, 63, of Hudson, Gregory Hayslette, 43, of Aurora, Frank Mazzuco, 41, of Dublin, and Bhupinder Sawhny, 70, of Gates Mills were all named in an 83-count indictment announced on Thursday. All four are charged with conspiracy to solicit, receive, offer and pay health care kickbacks.

“We all trust our doctors to make decisions based on what is best for the patient, not based on which sales representative is paying them money on the side and springing for steak dinners,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. “Doctors and the pharmaceutical sales reps who don’t follow the rules will be held accountable for their actions.”

Raheja is a doctor specializing in psychiatry and neurology. His primary practice was on W. 14th Street in Cleveland. Sawhny is a doctor specializing in neurosurgery, his practice was located on Ridge Road in Parma.

Hayslette worked as a sales rep for Avanir Pharmaceuticals, from June 2015 through September 2016. He was responsible for marketing Nuedexta and his territory spanned Northeast Ohio. Mazzucco was the regional business manager and supervised Hayslette.

To promote Nuedexta, Avanir ran a speaker's bureau. Avanir reps would talk to doctors and convince them to spread the word on Nuedexta to other medical professionals. These speaking engagements involved dinner at high-end restaurants, the indictment said.

Raheja joined Avanir's speaker's bureau in February 2011. Between 2011 and April 2016, he gave more than 200 presentations at various restaurants and doctor's offices. He received $1,500 for each of these presentations, according to the indictment.

Over five years, Raheja receive more than $330,000 from Avanir and wrote more than 10,000 prescriptions for Nuedexta, the indictment said. As a doctor, he prescribed Nuedexta more than any other medical professional in the nation, according to the indictment.

Hayslette and Mazzucco provided incentives for Nuedexta prescriptions to be written by doctors, the indictment said. The pair would arrange speaker's bureau programs with no educational value, according to the indictment. They would also facilitate payment for professional services to Raheja, fabricate sign-in sheets at speaking engagements to maximize the payout for Raheja and Sawhny and more, the indictment said.

Both Raheja and Sawhny are accused of writing prescriptions of Nuedexta for patients who did not have PBA. They are also accused of submitting false documents to Medicaid MCOs.

"Kickbacks are to ethics like a magnet to a compass — you lose your direction,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “Imagine trusting your doctor to do what’s right for your health, and finding out he’s instead doing what’s right for his wallet. This is much more than a financial crime.”

Hayslette is accused of offering free firearms training, office equipment and other things of value to Sawhny and providing coffee, breakfast, lunch and other food to both Raheja, Sawhny and their office staff.

The indictment also said Hayslette accessed protected patient information without authorization and facilitated the submissions of false diagnoses of PBA. Sawhny permitted Hayslette access to that information, the indictment notes.

“These doctors will now answer to a court of law for financially benefitting from lucrative speaking engagements and writing questionable prescriptions for one medication,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric B. Smith said. “The FBI will continue collaborative efforts to root out healthcare fraud and hold those responsible accountable for their fraudulent, unethical behavior."