A Louisiana physician assistant entered into settlement agreement this week with the US Attorney’s Office for allegedly accepting illegal payments from OK Compounding, LLC, in return for recommending and prescribing compounded drugs produced by the pharmacy. Stephen Ryan Honeycutt, 44, agreed to pay the government $620,508.36 for allegedly accepting the illegal kickback payments from Jan. 8 through June 10, 2013, while practicing at Bone & Joint Clinic in Marrero, Louisiana. The settlement agreement resolves allegations that Honeycutt had illegal financial relationships with OK Compounding concerning pain creams. Honeycutt prescribed pain creams for his patients, facilitating the sale and distribution of the creams. As compensation for his services, OK Compounding paid Honeycutt what was characterized by the parties as “medical director fees” based upon an hourly rate. However, the payments he received from OK Compounding were, in actuality, “kickbacks.” Because some of the patients were insured by Medicare and TRICARE, federal health insurance programs, the kickbacks were in violation of the False Claims Act. It is illegal to pay or receive “kickbacks” in conjunction with federal healthcare insurance.
