OKLAHOMA CITY – A physician who ran a health clinic in southwest Oklahoma was sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison for illegal drug distribution and health care fraud.
A federal grand jury here returned a 159-count indictment on June 20, 2018, against Melvin Lee Robison, 68, of Lake City, Colorado, who during the relevant time period ran the Robison Family Clinic in Sayre.
Robison was charged with numerous counts of drug distribution – specifically, dispensing opioids and other drugs outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.
He also was named in multiple counts of Medicare/Medicaid fraud based on, among other things, services he billed for while out of the country and services he billed for related to care of patients in nursing homes without performing the services or supervising those who provided them.
A superseding indictment charging Robison with five additional counts was filed on 19 December 2019.
While Robison’s prosecution on those drug and health care fraud charges was pending, he also was charged in the Southern District of Florida on June 11, 2021, with one count of conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks.
Robison pleaded guilty to two counts charging him with illegal distribution of controlled substances and health care fraud. As to the health care fraud, Robison admitted fraudulently billing Medicare at a higher rate for services that were performed by a nurse practitioner instead of himself. Robison also pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to pay healthcare kickbacks in his Florida case.
Oklahoma Western U.S. District Judge Timothy DeGiusti sentenced Robison to serve a 54-month federal prison sentence on his two Oklahoma-based charges, and another 24 months on his Florida case, to run concurrently with his Oklahoma sentences.
Robison also was ordered to pay a fine of $13,362, to pay restitution of $112,384 to the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services, and to forfeit $202,597. In imposing the sentence, Judge DeGiusti specifically noted the detriment to the community in that the number of prescriptions from controlled substances far exceeded the population of Sayre, where Robison practiced medicine.
Under the plea agreement, the remaining counts against Robison were dismissed at sentencing.
“Dr. Robison prescribed addictive, dangerous, and powerful controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose and abused the medical system to line his pockets for financial gain,” Western District U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester said. “This conduct violated his oath and federal law. My office remains committed to holding accountable doctors who fuel the opioid crisis and exploit their oath for money.”
“Health care fraud continues to be one of the most widespread and common forms of fraud our nation faces,” said Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Robison “recruited patients to join him in his fraudulent scheme by offering them kickbacks from his illegal profits.”
Robison violated his medical oath “for one sole purpose: greed,” said Eduardo A. Chávez, special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration – Dallas Field Office.
“It is particularly egregious that Dr. Robison used stolen taxpayer money to travel abroad and then furthered his scheme by fraudulently billing Medicare while he was there,” said Jason E. Meadows, acting special agent in charge for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General’s Dallas Regional Office.
The Oklahoma case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Oklahoma State Board of Osteopathic Examiners, the Board of Medicolegal Investigations – Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General’s Dallas Regional Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Oklahoma City Field Office.
The Florida case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation – West Palm Beach Field Office, as well as the Florida Department of Financial Services – Division of Investigative and Forensic Services, Bureau of Insurance Fraud.