TULSA – A Texas physician agreed to pay a fine for allegedly accepting kickback payments from OK Compounding.
Ian Reynolds, M.D., 71, of Friendswood, Texas, agreed to pay $300,000 to resolve False Claims Act allegations.
The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.
This is the twelfth kickback settlement involving OK Compounding, LLC, since November 2018.
“Unethical health care professionals will be held accountable when they violate rules intended to safeguard the integrity of our federal health care system,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “Doctors and pharmacists are on notice that there will be consequences if they abandon patient centered care in exchange for kickbacks that line their pockets.”
This civil settlement resulted from an investigation into numerous health care providers writing prescriptions for pain creams compounded and sold by OK Compounding in return for the kickback payments.
From April 2013 through September 2015, Dr. Reynolds prescribed pain creams to his patients, facilitating the sale and distribution of the creams. As compensation for his services, OK Compounding paid Dr. Reynolds what was characterized by the parties as “medical director fees” based upon an hourly rate; however, the payments Dr. Reynolds received from OK Compounding were, in actuality, “kickbacks.”
Because some of the patients were federally insured by Medicare, TRI- CARE, the Veterans Health Administration, and the Federal Employees Compensation Act Program (FECA), the kickbacks were in violation of the False Claims Act.