A doctor practicing in the greater Boston area was indicted for presenting false Medicaid claims for opioid addiction treatment on Sept. 21, 2017, according to Law360.

The the named defendant, Dr. Ashok Patel, was slapped with two counts of larceny, one count of presenting false Medicaid claims, and one count of making excess charges.

After investigation, according to Law360, the Office of Attorney General for the State of Massachusetts believes that the physician, owner, and operator of Ambama Clinic Inc. was turning opioid addicts seeking treatment away if they could not pay cash.

The opioid treatment that they could not pay for in cash was able to be paid for through MassHealth and Medicaid, but Dr. Patel allegedly was interested in “double-dipping”—receiving cash for treatment and then presenting claim money which he would also pocket.

According to Law360, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey estimated that the defendant in this false Medicaid claims indictment successfully profited from addicts seeking treatment to the tune of about $15,000.

This was for treatment with Suboxone covered by MassHealth. Suboxone assists with the symptoms of withdrawal for addicts and helps alleviate the drive to use drugs.

Dr. Patel then allegedly sought reimbursement for this treatment option by presenting false Medicaid claims through MassHealth and was reimbursed an additional $12,000.

Over and above the $27,000 gain the defendant made with cash and reimbursement for Suboxone, he also allegedly charged MassHealth for a coordinating treatment option with Vivitrol, also known to be used to help to block opioid cravings and assist with decreasing drug dependence.

The Vivitrol charge against MassHealth amounted to about $10,000 –a total take home of $37,000 for this physician located in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The Attorney General’s Office was given a hint of Dr. Patel’s allegedly false claims and double-dipping actions from a MassHealth office, according to Law360.

The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Division set about investigating this possible case of false Medicaid claims. The assigned investigator was Mr. Steven Pfister.

Mr. Pfister sought assistance from the MassHealth state program which is a combination of Medicaid and the children’s health care program. The period under scrutiny for the purposes of the case is December 2014 to August 2016.

During this time, Dr. Patel often would charge recipients of MassHealth services and programs either $75 weekly or $125 biweekly to cover the cost of drug addiction treatment.

He would state that his ‘policy’ was not to accept the state program’s coverage for such services. If they could not pay, he would turn them away. For those that did pay, he would then present claims for the same treatment to their health coverage program.

According to Law360, the State Attorney General is determined to prosecute this behavior to the full extent of the law in each and every case. She believes that the U.S. has an epidemic of opioid addiction and that citizens have to have access to public services to get ahead of the curve and win.