[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 231 (Friday, November 29, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60727-60728]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-30378]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
[Docket No. 95-11]


Stanley Dubin, D.D.S.; Revocation of Registration

    On September 29, 1994, the Deputy Assistant Administrator (then-
Director), Office of Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration 
(DEA), issued an Order to Show Cause to Stanley Dubin, D.D.S. 
(Respondent) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, notifying him of an 
opportunity to show cause as to why DEA should not revoke his DEA 
Certificate of Registration, AD5534842, and deny any pending 
applications for renewal of such registration as a practitioner, under 
21 U.S.C. Secs. 823(f) and 824(a)(5).
    By letter dated January 8, 1995, the Respondent, acting pro se, 
filed a timely request for a hearing, and following prehearing 
procedures, a hearing was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 
December 12, 1995, before Administrative Law Judge Paul A. Tenney. At 
the hearing, counsel for DEA presented the testimony of witnesses and 
introduced documentary evidence, and Respondent testified on his own 
behalf. After the hearing, both parties submitted briefs in support of 
their positions. On March 15, 1996, Judge Tenney issued his Findings of 
Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Recommended Ruling, recommending that 
Respondent's DEA Certificate of Registration be revoked until such time 
as he may be reinstated under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1320a-7(a).
    Neither party filed exceptions to Judge Tenney's decision, and on 
April 17, 1996, the record of these proceedings was transmitted to the 
Deputy Administrator.
    The Acting Deputy Administrator has considered the record in its 
entirety, and pursuant to 21 C.F.R. Sec. 1316.67, hereby issues his 
final order based upon findings of fact and conclusions of law as 
hereinafter set forth. The Acting Deputy Administrator adopts, in full, 
the Findings of Fact, and Conclusions of Law, and Recommended Ruling of 
the Administrative Law Judge. His adoption is in no manner diminished 
by any recitation of facts, issues and conclusions herein, or of any 
failure to mention a matter of fact or law.
    The Acting Deputy Administrator finds that Respondent graduated 
from Temple University dental school in 1964. In 1996, he bought an 
existing dental practice that included a large number of Medical 
Assistance patients. Effective January 26, 1977, Respondent was 
permanently terminated by the State Office of Medical Programs, Bureau 
of Medical Assistance, from participation in the Pennsylvania Medical 
Assistance Program, based upon his fraudulent billing of the Medical 
Assistance Program and the quality of treatment rendered to his 
patients. Respondent was notified of this action by a letter dated 
December 27, 1976, which also indicated that he was ``prohibited from 
organizing, arranging, rendering, or ordering any service for Medical 
Assistance recipients for which [he] may receive payments in the form 
of administrative expenses, shared fees or rebates through any group 
practice, clinic, medical center or other facility.''
    In January 1977, Respondent appealed his termination from the 
Medical Assistance Program. On September 10, 1979, Respondent's case 
was dismissed based upon his failure to pursue the appeal, and his 
termination was affirmed.
    In late 1983, the Medicare Fraud Control Unit of the Pennsylvania 
Office of Attorney General (Fraud Control Unit) received information 
that Respondent was billing the Medical Assistance Program for dental 
work performed on Medical Assistance patients. Subsequently, an 
undercover agent posing as a Medical Assistance recipient received 
dentures from Respondent, for which Respondent billed the Medical 
Assistance Program. The Fraud Control Unit also interviewed dentists 
who were employed by Respondent, as well as other office personnel. It 
was discovered that Respondent did all of the hiring for his dental 
practice and that any dentist employed by Respondent had to be enrolled 
in the Medical Assistance Program. At the time of the investigation, 
Respondent employed three dentists, and had a fifty-fifty fee sharing 
arrangement with two of the dentists. For work done by the third 
dentist, Respondent received fifty-five percent of the fees paid by the 
Medical Assistance Program, and when Respondent treated the Medical 
Assistance recipients himself, he received the full reimbursement 
amount.
    During the course of the investigation, the investigators learned 
that the patients needing denture work were treated by Respondent, and 
the other patients were treated by his employee dentists. A review of 
dental records from 1981 through 1985 revealed that many of the Medical 
Assistance invoices for denture work were submitted for payment with 
the forged signature and provider identification number of one of the 
dentists employed by Respondent. The employee dentists stated that they 
had not authorized their signature on work they had not performed. In 
addition, records were reviewed from the dental laboratory that filled 
denture prescriptions from Respondent's practice. Several of the 
prescriptions had the signature of one of the employee dentists, who 
indicated that the signatures were not his. The Fraud Control Unit 
determined that between 1981 and 1985, Respondent had received at a 
minimum approximately $162,000 from the Medical Assistance Program 
through the provider numbers of the dentists he employed.
    On December 4, 1987, Respondent was indicted by the Fifth Statewide 
Investigating Grand Jury for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 
Medical fraud, criminal conspiracy, forgery, and tampering with or 
fabricating physical evidence. On May 20, 1991, Respondent pled guilty 
to one count of Medicaid fraud, and was sentenced to two years 
probation, fined $10,000 and ordered to pay costs of $2,500 and 
restitution to the Department of Public Welfare in the amount of 
$87,500.
    As a result of his conviction, Respondent entered into a Consent 
Agreement with the State Board of Dentistry whereby his license to 
practice dentistry was suspended for one year, with the suspension 
stayed in favor of a three month suspension and a nine month 
probationary period. In addition, Respondent was required to pay a 
$1,000 fine.
    By letter dated April 8, 1992, Respondent was notified by the 
United States Department of Health and Human Services of his mandatory 
ten year exclusion from the Medicare program pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 
Sec. 1320-7(a).
    Respondent testified at the hearing before Judge Tenney that he 
never received the December 27, 1976 letter notifying him of his 
permanent termination from the state Medical Assistance Program. Like 
Judge Tenney, the Acting Deputy Administrator does not credit this 
testimony, since there is evidence that Respondent appealed this 
termination. Respondent denied filing the appeal of the termination and 
stated that he does not know who filed the

[[Page 60728]]

appeal on his behalf. However, the Acting Deputy Administrator does not 
credit this testimony either, in light of evidence in the record that 
Respondent was represented by three successive attorneys in his appeal 
before it was dismissed for failure to pursue.
    The Deputy Administrator may revoke or suspend a DEA Certificate of 
Registration under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 824(a), upon a finding that the 
registrant:

    (1) Has materially falsified any application filed pursuant to 
or required by this subchapter or subchapter II of this chapter;
    (2) Has been convicted of a felony under this subchapter or 
subchapter II of this chapter or any other law of the United States, 
or of any State relating to any substance defined in this subchapter 
as a controlled substance;
    (3) Has had his State license or registration suspended, 
revoked, or denied by competent State authority and is no longer 
authorized by State law to engage in the manufacturing, 
distribution, or dispensing of controlled substances or has had the 
suspension, revocation, or denial of his registration recommended by 
competent State authority;
    (4) Has committed such acts as would render his registration 
under section 823 of this title inconsistent with the public 
interest as determined under such section; or
    (5) Has been excluded (or directed to be excluded) from 
participation in a program pursuant to section 1320a-7(a) of Title 
42.

    It is undisputed that subsection (5) of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 824(a) 
provides the sole basis for the revocation of Respondent's DEA 
Certificate of Registration. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1320a-7(a), 
Respondent has been excluded from the Medicare program for a ten year 
period effective April 28, 1992, and from the Pennsylvania Medical 
Assistance Program permanently. Respondent contends that even though 
there is a lawful basis, revocation would be unduly harsh, since there 
are no allegations that he has misused controlled substances. 
Furthermore, Respondent argues that he has been practicing dentistry 
for five years since his Medicaid fraud conviction and is in good 
standing in the community in which he practices.
    The Acting Deputy Administrator finds that the Drug Enforcement 
Administration has previously held that misconduct which does not 
involve controlled substances may constitute grounds, under 21 U.S.C. 
Sec. 824(a)(5), for the revocation of a DEA Certificate of 
Registration. See Gilbert L. Franklin, D.D.S., 57 Fed. Reg. 3441 
(1992); George D. Osafo, M.D., 58 Fed. Reg. 37,508 (1993); Nelson 
Ramirez-Gonzalez, M.D., 58 Fed. Reg. 52,787 (1993).
    The Acting Deputy Administrator concludes that revocation is an 
appropriate sanction in this case. In 1977, Respondent was permanently 
terminated from participation in the Medical Assistance Program for the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania based upon fraudulent billing and 
inadequate quality of care. Despite this termination, Respondent 
continued to treat Medical Assistance recipients at his dental practice 
using on the Medical Assistance claims, the names and provider numbers 
of his employee dentists without their permission. In addition, in 
direct violation of the termination letter, Respondent received a 
percentage of the reimbursement fees paid to his employee dentists by 
the Medical Assistance Program. The Acting Deputy Administrator concurs 
with Judge Tenney that, ``these actions cast substantial doubt on 
Respondent's integrity * * *.''
    Accordingly, the Acting Deputy Administrator of the Drug 
Enforcement Administration, pursuant to the authority vested in him by 
21 U.S.C. Secs. 823 and 824, and 28 C.F.R. Secs. 0.100(b) and 0.104, 
hereby orders that DEA Certificate of Registration AD5534842, issued to 
Stanley Dubin, D.D.S., be, and it hereby is, revoked until such time as 
he may be reinstated under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1320a-7(a), and any pending 
applications for renewal of such registration, be, and they hereby are, 
denied. This order is effective January 28, 1997.

    Dated: November 19, 1996.
James S. Milford,
Acting Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 96-30378 Filed 11-27-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-09-M