Health Care Fraud in Florida
The Division of Insurance Fraud is part of the Florida Healthcare Fraud Task Force comprising local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that investigate allegations of health care fraud. Recently, the Florida Healthcare Fraud Task Force has devoted considerable attention to investigated compaints against doctors and physicians operating an internal medicine clinic in Florida.
The health care investigations often focus on doctors who allegedly prescribe powerful controlled substances to patients without a sufficient medical necessity. The criminal charges include health care fraud and unlawfully dispensing controlled substances.
The prosecutions often allege that the doctors prescribed these controlled substances in dosages and quantities that cause the patients to misuse and become addicted to the drugs such as oxycodone. Prosecutors must provide that the doctors prescribed inappropriate and excessive quantitites of controlled substances to patients outside the usual course of professional practice.
The patients then fill the prescriptions at various pharmacies, which allegedly results in Medicaid, Medicare, Tricare, and other private insurance companies paying for medically unnecessary prescriptions. Allegations can also involve doctors submitting fraudulent insurance claims for medical services to health care benefit organizations.The patients are often "doctor shopping" or allegedly part of an organized ring that obtains these controlled substances to sell on the street.