Orthopedic surgeon Michael Taba, MD, was sentenced to 102 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $13 million restitution for his role in a $145 million scheme to defraud the Department of Labor, the Justice Department said Feb. 24.
Dr. Taba, 61, accepted bribes and kickbacks between May 2014 and March 2017 from pharmacy owners to prescribe compound creams to injured federal workers that weren’t medically necessary, the Justice Department said. Dr. Taba’s co-defendants owned and operated three pharmacies across Texas, and they paid him and other physicians millions.
During the length of the scheme, the pharmacies billed the DOL-OWCP and Blue Cross Blue Shield more than $145 million and were paid more than $90 million for unnecessary prescriptions.
Dr. Taba was previously convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of health care fraud in November 2023.
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