State attorney general charges two clinic doctors with insurance fraud

Oct. 21--Two doctors who worked at walk-in clinics in Scranton are accused of having untrained staff members write Suboxone prescriptions for drug addicts and submitting false claims to insurers showing the physicians performed the services, the state attorney general's office said.

Agents arrested Rajaa Nebbari M.D., 44, of 1305 St. Ann St., Scranton, and Chethan Byadgi M.D., 52, of 117 Milford Estates Drive, Milford, Tuesday. The pair are charged with several counts of Medicaid fraud, theft by deception, insurance fraud and a charge for directing unqualified staffers to write prescriptions for Suboxone, a controlled substance used to treat opioid addiction, according to a criminal complaint.

The alleged crimes occurred first while the two worked at Advanced Urgent Care on Mulberry Street and later at their own clinic, Family Urgent Care on Pittston Avenue, investigators said.

Agents began investigating the physicians when Christine Conover, a former medical assistant who worked with the doctors, came forward and reported that she essentially "became the doctor" for Suboxone patients, treating them and writing prescriptions for the drug when she worked with Dr. Nebbari and Dr. Byadgi, according to court documents.

Ms. Conover told investigators that she was instructed by the doctors on how to treat Suboxone patients, and between February 2012 and May 2013, the doctors never saw Suboxone patients and were often absent from the clinics.

The woman is not a licensed practitioner in Pennsylvania, nor is she licensed to dispense Suboxone to drug-addicted patients, but she was instructed to fill out prescriptions for the substance on the doctors prescription pads, according to court documents.

Agents spoke with another employee, Jennifer Walter, who said she became the "Suboxone coordinator" at the clinic when Ms. Conover left. Ms. Walter is also not licensed to dispense Suboxone, investigators determined.

The doctors are also accused of billing insurance carriers for reimbursements of the treatments as though they performed the services, fraudulently collecting more than $169,000 of reimbursements from Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance companies for the treatments, according to court documents.

Investigators determined that some of the claims sent to private insurance companies were made when Dr. Nebbari and Dr. Byadgi were traveling abroad.

Agents also interviewed patients at the clinic, who reported that they seldom, if ever, met with the doctors and were treated by the medical assistants.

Dr. Nebbari and Dr. Byadgi were each arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Alyce Hailstone Farrell and released on $100,000 unsecured bail. Preliminary hearings are scheduled for Dec. 7.

Contact the writers: jkohut@timesshamrock.com; @jkohut on Twitter; cover@timesshamrock.com; @ClaytonOver on Twitter

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