Dover doctor who ran a 'pill mill' sentenced to prison for healthcare fraud

A doctor from Dover who admitted to defrauding Medicare and other health insurers out of millions of dollars and spending it on a extravagant lifestyle was sentenced Thursday to eight years in federal prison, officials said.

Fathallah Mashali, 62, who once ran pain management clinics in Massachusetts in Rhode Island, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $8.7 million in restitution, according to a statement from the US Attorney’s office.

As part of a scheme to defraud insurers, Mashali also overprescribed powerful opiates to patients, prosecutors said.

“Dr. Mashali ran his pain management practice as a pill mill,” US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling said in the statement.“At one point, Dr. Mashali was one of the highest-volume prescribers of oxycodone in Massachusetts, second only to a leading Boston hospital.”

Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/03/22/dover-doctor-who-ran-pill-mill-sentenced-prison-for-healthcare-fraud/6waKhaXUwKenh2QgHPzioL/story.html