What Happened
In June 2021, Dr. Gautam Arora, 43, formerly of Buffalo, New York, was sentenced to 14 months in prison after conviction for unlawfully acquiring controlled prescriptions by misrepresentation and fraud and scheming to defraud a health care benefit program. Between April 2013 and May 2017, while pain management doctor at the Hens Pain Center in Amherst, he prescribed opioids to multiple patients outside the usual course of professional practice. The drugs included hydrocodone, oxycodone, dextroamphetamine-amphetamine and carisoprodol. He wrote about 61 prescriptions to people who were not his patients or without proper examination. He also fraudulently billed Medicare $92,209.50 for office visits in early 2016.
“Arora wrote approximately 61 prescriptions for controlled substances to individuals who were either not his patients”
Related Guidance
- 15 Red Flags of Drug Diversion — Behavioral and transactional indicators of diversion.
- Investigation Playbook — How to investigate suspected diversion inside an organization.