A Massachusetts pain-management doctor has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison over a scheme to cheat Medicare and health insurers.
Fathalla Mashali, 62, pleaded guilty to 27 counts of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and 16 counts of money laundering, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. In addition to his prison sentence, Mashali must complete three years of supervised release and pay restitution of more than $8.7 million.
Mashali, a licensed physician in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, operated New England Pain and Wellness Management. He also employed doctors in Egypt who entered bogus information into US patients’ medical records, authorities said.
According to prosecutors, between 2010 and 2013, Mashali billed Medicare for expensive services that he never actually provided. He also frequently gave his patients large doses of prescription medication, including powerful opiates. He falsely stated in patients’ records and his representations to private insurers that he had seen patients for 25 minutes or longer. In fact, prosecutors said, Mashali often saw his patients for less than five minutes. Prosecutors said that during these brief visits, Mashali wouldn’t perform any physical exams and only rarely familiarized himself with the patients’ status or medical history. He also overbooked appointments and arrived to work sometimes as much as four hours after his first scheduled appointment. He would then submit phony documents saying he conducted extensive physical exams.
“Dr. Mashali ran his pain management practice as a pill mill,” said US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. “He overprescribed powerful narcotics without any discernible medical services to patients, and some patients died from overdoses. At one point, Dr. Mashali was one of the highest-volume prescribers of oxycodone in Massachusetts, second only to a leading Boston hospital. He took advantage of patients, his staff and the American healthcare system by defrauding Medicare. This sentence ensures that Dr. Mashali will never again treat – or mistreat – patients in order to line his own pockets at the expense of patient care.”
