Two West Brookfield, Massachusetts, doctors indicted in illegal prescribing, Medicaid fraud case

Two Massachusetts doctors were indicted on multiple counts of illegal prescribing and making false Medicaid claims, according to an announcement of the case from the Massachusetts attorney general’s office.Dr. Jeffrey J. Jones and Dr. James C. Wilson III, both of West Brookfield Family Practice, were indicted by a Worcester County grand jury. They are accused of prescribing medications — including combinations of opioids, stimulants and benzodiazepines — without a legitimate purpose, failing to adhere to standard practices, and prescribing to patients who showed signs of abusing or diverting the drugs. “The AGO also alleges that several of Jones’s and Wilson’s patients received multiple controlled substances at a time for years, and at times when the patients were not seen in the practice for months. Such prescribing raises the risk of addiction as well as the general danger of combining drugs, which can cause overdose or death,” Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office wrote in a statement. In addition to the allegations of illegal prescribing, the physicians are accused of billing MassHealth and related entities for visits during which the illegitimate prescriptions were made. According to the attorney general’s office, those prescriptions caused pharmacies to submit false claims to MassHealth.Jones and Wilson had their ability to prescribe controlled substances suspended by the Drug Enforcement Administration on May 6.

WORCESTER, Mass. —

Two Massachusetts doctors were indicted on multiple counts of illegal prescribing and making false Medicaid claims, according to an announcement of the case from the Massachusetts attorney general’s office.

Dr. Jeffrey J. Jones and Dr. James C. Wilson III, both of West Brookfield Family Practice, were indicted by a Worcester County grand jury. They are accused of prescribing medications — including combinations of opioids, stimulants and benzodiazepines — without a legitimate purpose, failing to adhere to standard practices, and prescribing to patients who showed signs of abusing or diverting the drugs.

“The AGO also alleges that several of Jones’s and Wilson’s patients received multiple controlled substances at a time for years, and at times when the patients were not seen in the practice for months. Such prescribing raises the risk of addiction as well as the general danger of combining drugs, which can cause overdose or death,” Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office wrote in a statement.

In addition to the allegations of illegal prescribing, the physicians are accused of billing MassHealth and related entities for visits during which the illegitimate prescriptions were made. According to the attorney general’s office, those prescriptions caused pharmacies to submit false claims to MassHealth.

Jones and Wilson had their ability to prescribe controlled substances suspended by the Drug Enforcement Administration on May 6.