A federal jury in the Eastern District of Michigan has convicted Michigan doctor Francisco Patino, M.D. for his role in a health care fraud scheme.
Michigan Doc Convicted in $100M+ Health Care Fraud Scheme
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Secondary#franciscopatino#patinodiet#patinolaboratories
The scheme to defraud Medicare and other health insurance programs involved several Michigan-based companies including: Global Quality Inc.; FDRS Diagnostics, PLLC; Patino Laboratories, Inc.; and Renaissance Age Management Institute LLC.
Dr. Patino controlled and operated all four companies.
According to evidence presented at trial, Dr. Patino “excessively prescribed highly addictive opioids to his patients.” According to court documents, from 2016 to 2017, Dr. Patino prescribed more 30-milligram Oxycodone pills than any other provider in Michigan. During that same time, he prescribed more than 2.2 million dosage units of controlled substances “including unnecessary medical prescriptions for Fentanyl, Oxycodone, Oxymorphone.”
In exchange for the opioids, Dr. Patino would provide patients with and/or bill patients for spinal injections “without regard to medical necessity.” From 2012 to 2017, Dr. Patino “billed Medicare for more of these injections than any provider in the country.” During trial, evidence also demonstrated that Dr. Patino would withhold a patient’s opioid prescription if they refused the injections.
Dr. Patino’s scheme also involved illegal kickbacks and money laundering. Dr. Patino received payment in exchange “for referring his patients’ samples” to a specific lab. Dr. Patino received money from this relationship after it was funneled through bank accounts held by others. He used some of the proceeds from his scheme to promote his specialized diet program, the Patino Diet.
The jury convicted Dr. Patino of the following: conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud; healthcare fraud for the submission of $5,510.00 in claims for an office visit and facet joint injections in 2014; healthcare fraud for the submission of $5,510.00 in claims for an office visit and facet joint injections in 2015; conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care kickbacks; conspiracy to commit money laundering; and money laundering. His sentencing is scheduled for January 20, 2022.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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