Mark Greenbain
Propublica
‘Let the Crime Spree Begin’: How Fraud Flourishes in Medicare’s Drug Plan
–Excerpt
In early 2011, federal investigators wiretapped the phones of Babubhai Patel, the owner of several Detroit-area pharmacies. They suspected him of improperly dispensing narcotics and other controlled drugs.
The investigators learned that Patel wasn’t just peddling painkillers.
The 51-year-old pharmacist had a stable of doctors willing to write Part D prescriptions for any drug he wanted, any time he wanted. In return, the doctors got cash, a flock of new patients and, in at least one case, a down payment for an office building, federal prosecutors claim…
Among those who pleaded guilty is psychiatrist Mark Greenbain, now 71, to whom Patel allegedly paid $500 every week for prescribing expensive antipsychotics. Witnesses said the two would sit together in Greenbain’s house. “Patel would direct Greenbain what medications to write, and Greenbain would demand cash in exchange,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.
Greenbain’s prescriptions cost Medicare $2.3 million in 2011, ProPublica’s analysis of Part D data shows. He was recently sentenced to four years in prison…
Excerpted from:‘Let the Crime Spree Begin’: How Fraud Flourishes in Medicare’s Drug Plan
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein
Propublica
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