The owner and operator of a Hamilton pain clinic was sentenced in US District Court for illegally distributing controlled substances, committing healthcare fraud and violating the anti-kickback statute. Nilesh Jobalia, 55, of Cincinnati, was sentenced to 120 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $2.2 million in restitution to Medicaid, Medicare and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. According to court documents, Jobalia owned and operated Cincinnati Centers for Pain Relief in Hamilton, Ohio from March 2013 through December 2017. Although the practice was not licensed as such, it operated almost exclusively as a pain clinic. Patients were prescribed fentanyl, oxycodone, methadone, morphine and other controlled substances on many occasions without actually being seen by the doctor. Jobalia’s practice also billed Medicare, Medicaid and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation for medically unnecessary prescriptions and services not rendered. For example, prescriptions to one customer alone caused the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to pay more than $450,000 for medically unnecessary drugs. In total, Jobalia caused more than $2 million in false claims. Jobalia also received more than $103,000 from a pharmaceutical company for purported speaking engagements about a fentanyl spray, a medication intended for breakthrough cancer pain.
