Lenoir City chiropractor pays $1.45 million for operating pill mills
A Lenoir City chiropractor has paid more than $1.45 million for allegedly operating a "pill mill" in which he used Medicare and TennCare to fill prescriptions for pain killers, including opioids, that were not medically necessary.
The allegations were brought to light by a former office manager at one of Matthew Anderson's clinics who acted as a whistle blower, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The opioid epidemic has had a crushing effect on patients and families across middle Tennessee, said Derrick Jackson, special agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General in Atlanta, in the release. Pill mills like these billed medically unnecessary services to Medicare and TennCare and contributed to problems of opioid abuse and addiction.
Billing Medicare and TennCare for prescriptions and services not necessary
From 2011 through 2014, Anderson and his company, PMC LLC, were allegedly asking pharmacies to bill Medicare and TennCare for pain killers, including opioids, to be dispensed via prescriptions written from the Cookeville Center for Pain Management.
Read more: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2018/01/26/lenoir-city-chiropractor-pays-1-45-million-operating-pill-mills/1068921001/