An Arkansas doctor will spend 102 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to defraud a military health insurer for $12 million, the U.S. Department of Justice announced (DOJ) earlier this month.
Joe David May, a.k.a. Jay May, 42, of Alexander, Ark., was sentenced April 13 on 22 counts and ordered to pay more than $4.63 million in restitution to TRICARE, the health insurer for the U.S. military, for being "at the heart" of an illicit prescriptions plot, the DOJ announced at the time. "Proof at trial showed May stood at the center of a bogus prescription-drug assembly line," the DOJ states in the news release, "and, later, went to great lengths in a failed bid to cover it up."
A 2020 indictment handed down 22 counts against May, "including conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, violating the anti-kickback statute, lying to the FBI, falsifying records, and aggravated identity theft. After a six-day trial in June 2022, a jury convicted May on all twenty-two counts," the news release states.
As part of the plot, recruiters identified TRICARE-eligible service members and veterans then filled out fake prescriptions for compounded medications in their names, choosing which medications to furnish and how many refills to approve. Intermediaries sent the pre-filled prescriptions to complicit doctors like May to "rubber-stamp" their prescriber signatures without ever consulting the “patient” or taking into account whether the pills were necessary.
May illegally approed 226 prescriptions that cost TRICARE more than $4.63 million, in exchange for thousands of dollars in bribes, according to the release. All but one of his prescriptions were for “patients” whom May was unaware of, had never met, and had no prior experience with.
As search warrants were executed at compounding pharmacies around the nation, May went to the FBI to provide information regarding his prescriptions, according to the release. May lied when he said he only signed prescriptions for patients he reviewed and that he didn't get paid in kickbacks. When May received a subpoena for prescriptions and related “patient” records, the obstruction persisted, according to the release. May only disclosed a small portion of the prescriptions he authorized, and he falsified medical documents to make it appear as though the people receiving the drugs were his patients.
As part of a nationwide surge of fraudulent schemes, TRICARE paid over $12 million for prescriptions created in this scheme, the release reports. In 2015, TRICARE spent more than $2 billion on compounded prescription medications, according to the news release.
“Our healthcare system is built on trust, and those who abuse it do so at their peril. Dr. May accepted kickbacks, cheated TRICARE, and tried to deceive federal agents investigating his crimes,” Jonathan D. Ross, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Organization, said in the release.
“Now, he will trade hospital scrubs for a prison uniform," Ross said. "Let his case serve as a warning to others in the medical industry. Our office and our partners at the FBI and HHS-OIG are committed to rooting out anyone who succumbs to the temptation of ‘easy money.’”
