Mount San Rafael Hospital and Rural Health Clinic in Trinidad, Colo., and three physicians employed by the hospital agreed to pay a combined $650,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act and Controlled Substances Act.
Between January 2016 and December 2023, Sheryll Castro-Flores, MD, Joseph Jimenez, MD, and Douglas McFarland, MD, repeatedly issued invalid prescriptions for controlled substances, according to a Nov. 24 news release from the Justice Department.
The physicians also violated the False Claims Act by seeking payment from Medicare and other federal programs for many of the invalid prescriptions, according to the Justice Department.
The prescriptions were not issued for legitimate medical purposes, were outside the typical course of professional practice and included dangerous drug combinations, the Justice Department alleges.
Dr. Castro-Flores, Dr. Jimenez, Dr. McFarland and the hospital did not admit to any liability in the settlement agreement, the release said.
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