DETROIT – Federal investigators said pain pills that have led so many into opioid addiction were far too easy to get at The Pain Center.
Six doctors were indicted in one of the largest fraud investigations Michigan has ever seen. Agents paid visits today to the two clinics in question: one on Van Dyke Avenue in Warren, the other on Kelly Road in Eastpointe.
READ: 6 doctors from Oakland, Wayne, Kent counties charged in massive opioid, fraud scheme
On Thursday, several doctors connected with The Pain Center appeared in federal court as patients showed up at their offices, wondering what was going on.
The six doctors have been charged in connection with a scheme to defraud health care providers out of more than $450 million and unlawfully prescribe more than 13 million opioids.
Dr. Rajendra Bothra, Dr. Eric Bakos, Dr. Ganiu Edu, Dr. David Lewis, Dr. Christopher Russo and Dr. Ronald Kufner are accused of being part of the scheme from January 2013 through November 2018.
Over the course of the conspiracy, the doctors submitted claims of more than $182.5 million to Medicare, $272.6 million to Medicaid and $9.2 million to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for services and equipment that were medically unnecessary, ineligible for reimbursement or misrepresented, according to court documents.
They are also accused of issuing more than 13,217,987 doses of opioids, including oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone and hydromorphine.