Oakland County doctor who illegally prescribed 1M+ opioid pills gets 20-year prison sentence
This illustration image shows tablets of opioid painkiller Oxycodone delivered on medical prescription taken on September 18, 2019 in Washington,DC. - Millions of Americans sank into addiction after using potent opioid painkillers that the companies
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (Fox 2) - An Oakland County doctor was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for illegally distributing opioid pills and ripping off insurance companies.
David Jankowski, 63, ran Summit Medical Group, which appeared to be a medical clinic formerly located in Dearborn Heights and Southfield. However, it was a pill mill.
Federal agents first executed search and arrest warrants against Jankowski and Summit in June 2017.
Authorities say Jankowski wrote medically unnecessary prescriptions for drugs like Oxycontin, Oxycodone, morphine, hydrocodone, and Xanax.
"Michigan communities have seen devastating losses relating to opioid overdoses in the last five years," said U.S. Attorney Ison. "Doctors who illegally dispense powerful prescription drugs bear some of the responsibility for this harm to our community. We hope prosecutions like this one will stop medical professionals from abusing their positions by dealing drugs and stealing from insurance companies and taxpayers. ."
The scheme involved prescribing opioids after receiving cash from patient recruiters who brought their own patients to his practice. Evidence showed that he distributed more than 1 million opioid pills that were not medically necessary.
He also persuaded one patient to receive unnecessary shoulder surgery in return for prescribing medically unnecessary controlled substances.
Authorities say he also sent out an unlicensed medical school graduate to perform home visits to Medicare beneficiaries and issue them prescriptions for controlled substances with he had pre-singed. Jankowski, who was not present during the visit, directed that the fraudulent claims to Medicare be submitted as if he himself had performed the service.
Jankowski would submit claims to insurance companies for the medically unnecessary prescriptions. Based upon this fraudulent scheme, Jankowski received more than $35 million from insurance companies and approximately $5 million from Medicare and Medicaid.
"Medical providers who prescribe powerful controlled substances without regard for medical necessity and submit fraudulent claims for unnecessary services, place their patients at risk and waste valuable taxpayer dollars," said Special Agent in Charge Mario M. Pinto.