Virginia Doctor Sentenced to Jail for Defrauding Government Health Insurance Programs
Dr. Ronald Poulin allegedly defrauded government-run health insurance programs out of $1.3 million. Poulin, a 61-year-old cancer doctor who practiced for 35 years, was handed a jail sentence of over five years in federal prison.
A jury had found the veteran doctor guilty of one count of health care fraud, 26 counts of filing false health care statements and one count of altering records to obstruct the investigation. During the trial, prosecutors had showed evidence that Poulin directed employees to alter, forge and destroy his records following the issuance of subpoenas by the inspector general offices of the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Poulin was convicted of bilking Medicare and Tricare when he split drugs between two patients and charged them each for an entire dose, billed for higher amounts of chemotherapy drugs than what was given and billed for patient visits when he wasn’t even in the office. Angela Zoubul, an FBI analyst, testified that the doctor got $790,000 over what he was entitled to receive due to $1.3 million in fraudulent claims made between 2006 and 2008.
Poulin’s license is still classified as active by the Virginia Board of Medicine, but not surprisingly, a board spokeswoman said that a felony conviction typically leads to automatic suspension following sentencing. Virginia Hematology Oncology, Poulin’s practice, has been closed.