A physician with a St. Louis office and two employees have been accused of illegally prescribing controlled substances and healthcare fraud.
From at least July 2016 to December 2021, David Parks, MD, and two employees conspired to prescribe controlled substances outside the usual course of practice to maximize their patient population, the Justice Department said in a July 8 news release.
Alongside the two employees, James Bilderback and Michelle Scheer, Dr. Parks regularly prescribed Schedule II controlled substance prescriptions, including hydrocodone, oxycodone and dextroamphetamine-amphetamine salts, despite being rarely at the clinic and using presigned prescriptions.
Dr. Parks and Mr. Bilderback also conspired to Medicare, Missouri Medicaid and private health insurers by billing them for false claims. Mr. Bilderback was the offices' clinical manager and clinical research coordinator who later married Dr. Park.
Additionally, after prescriptions became electronically processed in spring of 2019, Dr. Parks and Mr. Bilderback gave the cell phone to staffers with no prescribing authority.
The three were each indicted on a charge of conspiracy to illegally prescribe controlled substances and five counts of illegal prescribing of a controlled substance.
Dr. Parks and Mr. Bilderback were also indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, eight additional counts of illegal prescribing of a controlled substance and 15 counts of making false statements related to healthcare matters.