New York— A U.S. federal jury has convicted Dr. Neil Anand, a 48-year-old physician of Indian descent, for his role in a $2.3 million healthcare fraud and drug distribution conspiracy involving the illegal prescribing of controlled substances, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The verdict, handed down Tuesday in a federal court in Pennsylvania, includes convictions for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, healthcare fraud, and money laundering.
According to prosecutors, Dr. Anand issued pre-signed prescriptions for oxycodone—a highly addictive opioid painkiller—to interns at his practice. These prescriptions enabled just nine patients to obtain approximately 20,850 tablets of the drug, without undergoing proper medical evaluations.
In addition, Dr. Anand distributed what prosecutors described as “Goody Bags” through pharmacies he owned. These bags contained medically unnecessary prescriptions that patients were required to accept in order to receive controlled substances. The fraudulent prescriptions were then billed to private insurers and government health programs, resulting in $2.3 million in illegitimate payouts.
When Anand became aware of the federal investigation, he attempted to conceal the illicit proceeds by transferring around $1.2 million into an account under his father’s name, earmarked for the benefit of his minor daughter, according to the Justice Department.
Prosecuting the case was Arun Bodapati from the DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. Dr. Anand is scheduled to be sentenced in August.
Anand was initially charged in 2019 alongside four others, including three individuals identified as medical graduates from foreign universities who were not licensed to practice medicine in the United States.
In a separate but similar case from 2017, Indian-American cardiologist Dr. Devendra Patel was arrested in Nevada on 39 counts of unlawfully distributing prescription opioids and committing healthcare fraud. Patel was accused of prescribing powerful narcotics, including fentanyl, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, without legitimate medical need between May 2014 and September 2017. He pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Reno.
Both cases underscore ongoing federal efforts to crack down on the misuse of prescription opioids, a crisis that has contributed to a nationwide epidemic of addiction and overdose deaths. (Source: IANS)
