Feds: Medicare covered doctor shopper's costs
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
November 24, 2009
A Maryland man accused of using his dead father’s Medicare so he could pay for 145 prescriptions of powerful pain medications filled out by 60 Washington-area doctors over a three-year period is expected to plead guilty.
Rodney T. Fahrenholtz was indicted on health care fraud charges last month. On Monday, a judge scheduled a December hearing for a plea agreement, which typically means the defendant plans to plead guilty, court records show. Calls to his attorney were not immediately returned.
According to court documents, Fahrenholtz, 34, was able to qualify for Medicare Part D by using his dead father’s Social Security number. He allegedly used the federal program to cover his costs as he traveled from doctor to doctor picking up 145 prescriptions for 5,677 pills of OxyContin, hydrocodone and methadone, among other drugs.
The bulk of the prescriptions was for OxyContin, a drug typically used to alleviate pain in cancer patients. According to a sworn statement by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Fahrenholtz was able to obtain 3,070 pills of the drug.
A doctor interviewed by the agent reportedly told her that the quantity of drugs indicated they were “for purposes beyond personal, legitimate use and instead for abuse and/or distribution.”
Fahrenholtz allegedly ran the scheme from 2006 through the first half of 2009, court documents said. In five cases he allegedly signed agreements with Washington-area doctors saying that he would not “doctor shop.” Despite those agreements, authorities say Fahrenholtz filled multiple prescriptions from different doctors, sometimes over a period of a few days.
For example, on June 16, Fahrenholtz allegedly received and filled a prescription for 40 80 milligram OxyContin pills meant to last for 20 days, the agent wrote. But two days later he allegedly obtained and filled a prescription for 90 40-mg OxyContin pills from one doctor and another for 90 20-mg OxyContin pills from a different doctor.
Authorities say he filled the prescriptions at 43 pharmacies in Maryland, Washington and Virginia.
Fahrenholtz was released on personal recognizance, but has been required to report to a probation officer for drug evaluation.
