LI Doctor Ran Opioid Mill Out Of Clinic, AG Says

Two doctors, including one from Rockville Centre, were arrested on Monday after New York Attorney General Letitia James says they were conspiring to operate an opioid mill, as well as defrauding medicaid.

Dr. Clarisse Clemons, 63, of Rockville Centre, and Dr. Ilya Smuglin, 50, of Rego Park, were both charged with criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance or of a controlled substance, first-degree healthcare fraud and fourth-degree conspiracy. If convicted on the top charge, they each face up to 25 years in prison.

“We will not tolerate attempts to fraudulently use the Medicaid program to take advantage of those suffering from addiction,” said James. “New York is experiencing a serious opioid epidemic, and doctors that prescribe narcotics without proper screening procedures only deepen this crisis. We will continue to take on this crisis from every angle and that includes prosecuting doctors who abuse their duties and our trust.”

According to James, Smuglin, Clemons and other staff at the Miromedical P.C. and Ferrara Medical Csre, P.C. clinics -- both located in New York City -- encouraged excessive prescriptions for Suboxone, a narcotic drug that's used to treat pain and opioid addiction. James said they were also selling prescriptions for the drug.

Because of the prescribing and the sale of the prescriptions, James said that the clinics had an influx of patients, which the doctors used to file false Medicaid claims. James said that the clinics operated as unauthorized providers of substance abuse treatment services.

James said that the doctors and their co-conspirators lured Medicaid patients to the clinics by paying kickbacks and giving prescriptions for Suboxone. The patients then entered a fake substance abuse treatment program, James said, where medical histories were not taken, physicals were not performed and patients were consistently given Suboxone prescriptions for the maximum dose.

To further the scheme, James said that Smuglin and Clemons regularly gave pre-signed, but otherwise blank, prescription pads to non-doctors at the clinic, so they could hand out prescriptions as needed. Once the Suboxone prescriptions were obtained, James said that patients were regularly offered money from drug dealers inside and outside of the clinic, often in plain view of doctors and employees.

According to James, relying on the accuracy of claims submitted for these Suboxone prescriptions, Medicaid and MetroPlus, a Medicaid-managed care organization, paid pharmacies filling the prescriptions over $3 million in 2015 and over $2 million in 2016.