[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 20, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7221-7223]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-03301]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Drug Enforcement Administration


James E. Ranochak, M.D.; Decision and Order

    On September 11, 2017, the Acting Assistant Administrator, 
Diversion Control Division, Drug Enforcement Administration, issued an 
Order to Show Cause to James E. Ranochak, M.D. (hereinafter, 
Registrant), of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Show Cause Order proposed the 
revocation of Registrant's DEA Certificate of Registration No. 
AR1591913, on the ground that he ``do[es] not have authority to handle 
controlled substances in . . . Indiana, the [S]tate in which [he is] 
registered with the'' Agency. GX 2, at 1 (citing 21 U.S.C. 823(f) and 
824(a)(3)).
    As to the jurisdictional basis of the proceeding, the Show Cause 
Order alleged that Registrant is registered ``as a practitioner in 
Schedules II [through]

[[Page 7222]]

V,'' under the above registration number, at the location of 3488-B 
Stellhorn Road, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Id. The Order further alleged that 
this registration does not expire until April 30, 2020. Id.
    As to the substantive ground for the proceeding, the Show Cause 
Order alleged that ``[o]n August 8, 2017, the Indiana Medical Licensing 
Board summarily suspended [Registrant's] medical license for 90 days, 
effective July 27, 2017'' and ``[t]his order remains in effect.'' Id. 
The Order thus alleged that Registrant is ``without authority to handle 
controlled substances in the State . . . in which [he is] registered.'' 
Id. The Order then asserted that Registrant is ``required to possess 
authority from a state in order to obtain or retain a DEA 
registration,'' and that ``[c]onsequently, . . . DEA must revoke'' his 
registration. Id. at 2 (citations omitted).
    The Show Cause Order also notified Registrant of his right to 
request a hearing on the allegations or to submit a written statement 
while waiving his right to a hearing, the procedure for electing either 
option, and the consequence of failing to elect either option. Id. 
(citing 21 CFR 1301.43). The Order also notified Registrant of his 
right to submit a corrective action plan in accordance with 21 U.S.C. 
824(c)(2)(C). Id. at 2-3.
    On September 14, 2017, a DEA Diversion Investigator went to 
Registrant's home address and personally served the Show Cause Order on 
Registrant. GX 3, at 2 (affidavit of DI). Moreover, in its Request for 
Final Agency Action which it submitted on November 9, 2017, the 
Government represents that since the date of service of the Show Cause 
Order, Registrant has not requested a hearing, nor submitted a written 
statement or a corrective action plan. Based on the DI's affidavit and 
the Government's representation, I find that more than 30 days have now 
passed since the date of service of the Show Cause Order and that 
Registrant has neither requested a hearing nor submitted a written 
statement or corrective action plan. I therefore find that Registrant 
has waived his right to request a hearing or submit a written statement 
and issue this Decision and Order based on relevant evidence submitted 
by the Government \1\ and matters of which I take official notice. 21 
CFR 1301.43(d)-(e). I make the following findings.
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    \1\ On January 12, 2018, the Government submitted a Supplement 
to its Request for Final Agency Action which contained an additional 
exhibit, this being a December 20, 2017 Order of the Medical 
Licensing Board.
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Findings of Fact

    Registrant is the holder of DEA Certificate of Registration No. 
AR1591913, pursuant to which he is authorized to dispense controlled 
substances in schedules II through V as a practitioner, at the 
registered address of 3488-B Stellhorn Road, Fort Wayne, Indiana. GX 1. 
This registration does not expire until April 30, 2020. Id.
    Registrant is also the holder of medical license No.01026732A 
issued by the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana (hereinafter, the 
Board). GX 3A (Order Granting Summary Suspension), at 1. However, on 
June 22, 2017, Registrant was indicted in the United States District 
Court for the Northern District of Indiana on 10 counts of Conspiracy 
to Commit Healthcare Fraud and Distributing a Controlled Substance. Id. 
at 2. Based on the indictment, on July 27, 2017, the Board summarily 
suspended Registrant's medical license for 90 days. Id. On December 7, 
2017, the Board extended the suspension for an additional 90 days. See 
GX 4, at 3 (Order Granting Summary Suspension Extension, at 2 (Dec. 20, 
2017)). Also, according to the Board's website (of which I take 
official notice),\2\ the suspension remains in effect as of the date of 
this Decision an Order; the website also reflects that Registrant's 
CSR-Physician License Nos. 01026732B and 01026732C have both expired.
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    \2\ See 5 U.S.C. 556(e).
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Discussion

    Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3), the Attorney General is authorized 
to suspend or revoke a registration issued under section 823 of the 
Controlled Substances Act (CSA), ``upon a finding that the registrant . 
. . has had his State license . . . suspended [or] revoked . . . by 
competent State authority and is no longer authorized by State law to 
engage in the . . . dispensing of controlled substances.'' With respect 
to a practitioner, DEA has long held that the possession of authority 
to dispense controlled substances under the laws of the State in which 
a practitioner engages in professional practice is a fundamental 
condition for obtaining and maintaining a practitioner's registration. 
See, e.g., James L. Hooper, 76 FR 71371 (2011), pet. for rev. denied, 
481 Fed. Appx. 826 (4th Cir. 2012); Frederick Marsh Blanton, 43 FR 
27616 (1978).
    The Agency's rule derives from the text of two other provisions of 
the CSA: Section 802(21), which defines the term ``practitioner,'' and 
section 823(f), which sets forth the registration requirements 
applicable to practitioners. Notably, in section 802(21), Congress 
defined ``the term `practitioner' [to] mean [ ] a . . . physician . . . 
or other person licensed, registered or otherwise permitted, by . . . 
the jurisdiction in which he practices . . . to distribute, dispense, 
[or] administer . . . a controlled substance in the course of 
professional practice.'' 21 U.S.C. 802(21). The text of this provision 
makes clear that a physician is not a practitioner within the meaning 
of the CSA if he is not ``licensed, registered or otherwise permitted, 
by the jurisdiction in which he practices . . . to dispense [or] 
administer . . . a controlled substance in the course of professional 
practice.'' Id.
    To the same effect, Congress, in setting the requirements for 
obtaining a practitioner's registration, directed that ``[t]he Attorney 
General shall register practitioners . . . if the applicant is 
authorized to dispense . . . controlled substances under the laws of 
the State in which he practices.'' 21 U.S.C. 823(f). Thus, based on 
these provisions, the Agency held nearly forty years ago that ``[s]tate 
authorization to dispense or otherwise handle controlled substances is 
a prerequisite to the issuance and maintenance of a Federal controlled 
substances registration.'' Blanton, 43 FR at 27617 (revoking 
physician's registration based on one-year suspension of his state 
license) (emphasis added).
    Here, based on the Summary Suspension Order of Registrant's medical 
license as well as the information that both of Registrant's state 
controlled substance licenses have expired, I find that Registrant is 
currently without authority to dispense controlled substances in 
Indiana, the State in which he is registered with DEA. See Ind. Code 
Sec.  35-48-3-3(b) (``Every person who dispenses . . . any controlled 
substance within Indiana must have a registration issued by the 
[pharmacy] board in accordance with its rules.''); see also Ind. Code 
Sec.  25-22.5-1-1.1(a)(1)(B) (the ``[p]ractice of medicine'' includes 
the ``prescription or administration of any form of treatment, without 
limitation''); id. Sec.  25-22.5-1-1(g) (defining ``[ ]physician'' to 
``mean any person . . . who holds [a] valid unlimited license to 
practice medicine'' in the state); id. Sec.  25-22.5-8-1 (``It is 
unlawful for any person to practice medicine . . . in this state 
without holding a license or permit to do so, as provided in this 
article.'').
    Moreover, because ``the controlling question'' in a proceeding 
brought

[[Page 7223]]

under 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3) is whether the holder of a DEA registration 
``is currently authorized to handle controlled substances in the 
[S]tate,'' Hooper, 76 FR at 71371 (quoting Anne Lazar Thorn, 62 FR 
12847, 12848 (1997)), the Agency has also long held that revocation is 
warranted even where a practitioner has lost his state authority by 
virtue of the State's use of summary process and the State has yet to 
provide a hearing to challenge the suspension. Bourne Pharmacy, 72 FR 
18273, 18274 (2007); Wingfield Drugs, 52 FR 27070, 27071 (1987). Thus, 
it is of no consequence that the Indiana Board has employed summary 
process in suspending Registrant's state license. What is consequential 
is that Registrant is no longer currently authorized to dispense 
controlled substances in Indiana, the State in which he is registered. 
I will therefore order that his registration be revoked.

Order

    Pursuant to the authority vested in me by 21 U.S.C. 824(a), as well 
as 28 CFR 0.100(b), I order that DEA Certificate of Registration 
AR1591913, issued to James E. Ranochak, M.D., be, and it hereby is, 
revoked. This Order is effective immediately.\3\
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    \3\ For the same reasons that led the Indiana Board to summarily 
suspend Registrant's medical license (his indictment in federal 
district court on 10 counts of Conspiracy to Commit Health Care 
Fraud and Distributing a Controlled Substance), I find that the 
public interest necessitates that this Order be effective 
immediately. 21 CFR 1316.67.

    Dated: February 6, 2018.
Robert W. Patterson,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2018-03301 Filed 2-16-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4410-09-P