(TOLEDO, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today announced that a former Toledo doctor will spend several years in prison after he was convicted of Health Care Fraud, Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance, and Failure to Pay Employment Taxes.
A federal judge sentenced Darrell Hall, M.D., of E.D.M. Health Services, 316 North Michigan Street, Toledo, to five years in prison this week. He must also repay $78,113.75 to Ohio's Medicaid Program.
"This case is a clear example of a doctor putting greed above quality care for his patients," said Attorney General DeWine. "This joint state and federal investigation found that this doctor improperly prescribed the drug Oxycodone, and he also defrauded the Medicaid program by claiming he provided more services than he actually did."
The case was investigated by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Steven Dettelbach, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
"This sentence should send a message to any doctor who would use their prescription pad as a means to run a pill mill," U.S. Attorney Dettelbach said.
The Attorney General's Office began investigating Hall after discovering he had fraudulently engaged in "upcoding" by billing the Ohio Medicaid plan for more extensive services than he actually provided between August 2008 and May 2009.
A concurrent investigation by the DEA revealed that Hall overprescribed approximately 1,300 Oxycodone pills, and the IRS found that he failed to pay employment taxes over the same time period.
The State Medical Board of Ohio revoked Hall's license to practice medicine in November 2010.
Hall will be on supervised release for three years following the completion of his prison sentence.
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