Southern Indiana doctor, nurse practitioner convicted on federal charges

Jun. 18—LOUISVILLE — After a six-week trial, a federal jury has convicted a Southern Indiana doctor, nurse practitioner and health practice on multiple counts including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and health care fraud.

On June 11, and after deliberating for three hours, the jury handed down a verdict finding Dr. Jeffrey Campbell of Jeffersonville, Mark Dyer, RN, and Physicians Primary Care, PLLC where they worked guilty of 13 of the 22 charges.

The three were indicted in 2017 as part of a federal investigation into health care fraud that resulted in charges for more than 400 individuals and practices across 41 federal districts, the News and Tribune previously reported. The accusations nationally totaled around $1.3 billion in false billings.

Online court records show that the three Jeffersonville parties were each convicted of conspiracy in unlawful distribution and dispensing of controlled substances and conspiracy (health care fraud.)

Campbell and Dyer were also found guilty of health care fraud (physical therapy) and conspiracy (money laundering.) Campbell alone was convicted of two additional charges of health care fraud (fraudulent coding.)

"Physicians and medical professionals take an oath that obligates them to do no harm," said Special Agent in Charge Robert Brown of the FBI's Louisville Field Office, in a news release.

"Dr. Campbell, Mark Dyer, and the other defendants willingly broke that oath — by providing unnecessary drugs and defrauding various benefits programs solely to line their pockets.

"[This] guilty verdict sends a message to those who prioritize profit over care: the FBI and its partners will root out physicians and health care professionals who let dollar signs rather than medical needs drive their treatment of patients."

The charges stem from incidents that occurred between Jan 1, 2009 and Dec. 1, 2016, when the defendants unlawfully distributed controlled substance "outside the course of usual practice," specifically oxycodone and methadone. The jury also found them guilty of fraudulently billing both Indiana and Kentucky Medicaid and Indiana Medicare by falsely submitting claims and using improper codes to get higher reimbursement. Campbell and Dyer were also convicted of falsely using codes for treatment, purporting that a physician and physical therapists did the treatments.

A sentencing hearing is set for Sept. 8 at 9 a.m. in the U.S. District Court Western District of Kentucky in Louisville.