Seven federal districts in Northeastern United States have charged 48 defendants with healthcare fraud and a doctor of Indian origin is among those charged in continuing action by the justice department.

The Indian Panorama website reported last week that the department had announced coordinated action against the fraud which resulted in a loss of over $800 million for government programs and the distribution of over 3.25 million opioid pills in “pill mill” clinics. Fresh charges have been forced against 48 defendants for their roles in submitting over $160 million in fraudulent claims, including charges against 15 doctors and other medical professionals, whereas 24 were charged for their roles in diverting opioids.

Neil K Anand, MD, is among those charged in Pennsylvania’s eastern district. Anand, aged 42, of Bensalem, was charged with Asif Kundi, 31, Atif Mahmood Malik, 34, and Viktoriya Makarova, 33, all these from Philadelphia.

Anand is a medical doctor, Kundi and Malik are unlicensed foreign medical school graduates, and nurse Makarova were charged on one count of healthcare fraud and one of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, said the report.

The charges originated from their alleged submission of fraudulent claims to Medicare and to health plans provided by the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Independence Blue Cross (IBC). The claims were allegedly for “goody bags”, bags of unnecessary prescription medications dispensed by non-pharmacy dispensing sites which were owned by Anand.

According to the accusation, Medicare, OPM and IBC had paid over $4 million for the goody bags. Patients were allegedly required to take the bags to receive prescriptions for controlled substances. Malik and Kundi allegedly wrote these prescriptions using pre-signed blank prescriptions from Anand and Makarova. More than 10,000 prescriptions were allegedly issued for Schedule II controlled substances, of which above 7,000 were for oxycodone totaling 634,000 tablets.

This is the largest healthcare frauds ever investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and put on trial by the Department of Justice. The investigation has already ensued charges against 21 other defendants.