Bernard Ogon, 48, a Burlington County, New Jersey, doctor was sentenced to 33 months in prison for his role in a telemedicine scheme to prescribe expensive compounded medications to patients who did not need them. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court Ogon admitted he signed prescriptions for compounded medications (medications with ingredients of a drug tailored to the needs of a particular patient) without having established a doctor-patient relationship, spoken to the patient or conducted any medical evaluation. Ogon often signed preprinted prescription forms — with patient information and medication already filled out — where all that was required was his signature. Then, instead of providing the prescription to the patient, Ogon would return the prescriptions to specific compounding pharmacies involved in the conspiracy. Ogon was paid $20 to $30 for each prescription he signed, and his participation in the conspiracy caused losses to healthcare benefit programs of over $24 million, including losses to government healthcare programs of over $7 million. In addition to the prison term, Ogon was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered restitution of $24.3 million and forfeiture of $75,000.
