IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Medicaid will pay back $70,000 to the federal government after an audit found claims were paid for drugs and services prescribed by doctors who should have been disqualified because of criminal convictions and other professional infractions, a spokesman said Friday.
The improper payments totaling $73,000 from 2006 through 2008 were uncovered in a February report by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Additional review by Iowa's Medicaid program revealed tens of thousands of dollars in additional payments that should not have been allowed between 2009 and this February.
The money paid for orders and prescriptions by health care providers who were listed in a federal database of individuals excluded from receiving Medicaid payments for services because of rule infractions. Medicaid is the government health care program for the poor and disabled.
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Iowa Department of Human Services spokesman Roger Munns said the $70,000 federal share of the improper payments will be paid back after the agency receives a formal demand letter from the federal government. He said the agency has taken steps to fix the problem.
The audit report did not identify the providers in question. But in response to questions from The Associated Press, Munns identified them as:
— Centerville doctor Stephen Jewett, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to federal charges that he repeatedly wrote fraudulent prescriptions for painkillers to patients between 2000 and 2005 that they then returned for his personal use.
— Waterloo physician Mark J. Louviere, who was sentenced to several years in prison on drug charges after authorities seized more than 11 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated $1 million from his possession in 2007.
— Clinton doctor Luis Barrios, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to two counts of sexual exploitation of a patient. He also told authorities that he prescribed narcotics and controlled substances to a 21-year-old patient with whom he had an affair, court records show.
—Bettendorf physician Narinder Kumar, who was given probation by regulators in 2006 for a pattern of unprofessional conduct related to alcohol consumption and allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior toward female patients. After violating the terms of his probation by using alcohol and prescription drugs, among other things, the board suspended Kumar's license indefinitely in 2009.
The criminal convictions mean Jewett, Louviere and Barrios must be excluded from Medicaid participation for at least five years. Kumar's exclusion must last as long as his license suspension.
Reached Friday by The Associated Press, Jewett said he has been retired for four years and had no information about the claims. Barrios and Kumar did not immediately return messages seeking comment, and Louviere could not immediately be reached in prison.
Munns said no payments went directly to the excluded providers. Instead, he said Iowa Medicaid paid for services provided by others who used their identification numbers as the referral doctors or pharmacists when submitting claims. It is likely the submitting providers had used these identification numbers before, and some may not have known they were excluded, he said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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