Oncologist Charged with Health Care Fraud

NORFOLK, VA—Dr. Ronald Poulin, age 60, of Virginia Beach, was charged today by a Norfolk federal grand jury in a forty-five count indictment with health care fraud, making false statements relating to health care matters, and alteration of records to obstruct an investigation. Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement.

According to the indictment, Poulin, a licensed hematologist and oncologist, owns and operates a medical practice in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Between January 2006 through August 2008, Poulin fraudulently billed Medicare and Tricare for a greater amount of chemotherapy drugs than he actually administered to patients and for office visits that involved a more thorough medical examination than he actually rendered to patients. Poulin also consistently split single-dose vials of Procrit, a drug administered to patients with anemia, between two patients. He then billed Medicare and Tricare as if each patient received a full vial of the drug. Additionally, Poulin diagnosed patients with renal disease in order to bill Medicare and Tricare for the administration of Procrit although he knew administering the drug to these patients was not medically reasonable. As a result of these fraudulent claims, Poulin obtained over $850,000 in health care benefit payments from Medicare and Tricare to which he was not entitled. Between July 2008 through August 2008, Poulin falsified, and directed members of his staff to falsify, patient medical records subpoenaed during the investigation of this case.

Poulin is scheduled to make an initial appearance in the United States District Court in Norfolk, Virginia on April 22, 2009.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, and Defense Criminal Investigative Service Office of the Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorneys Alan M. Salsbury and Katherine Lee Martin are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty. A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.