The government has charged two medical administrators with allegedly overprescribing stimulants. Unfortunately, there’s no indication that any government officials will face consequences for making it harder for people to get these drugs in the first place.
On Thursday, the Justice Department announced the arrest of two senior executives of telemedicine company Done Global on charges including conspiracy to commit health care fraud and obstruction of justice.
Done’s founder and CEO Ruthia He and the company’s clinical president David Brody are accused of “exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to develop and implement a $100 million scheme to defraud taxpayers and provide patients with easy access to Opportunities for Adderall and other stimulants”. There is no legitimate medical purpose,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said. Adderall is a brand-name prescription stimulant most commonly used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other conditions such as narcolepsy.
In March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that doctors and nurse practitioners could now prescribe controlled substances via telemedicine, relaxing a 2008 law that required at least one regulations for doctors and licensed nurses.
A former product designer at Facebook, he founded Done in December 2019, just weeks before COVID-19 reached U.S. shores. Done raised money from investors including venture capitalist David Sacks and former NFL quarterback Joe Montana.
The government’s indictment alleges that company officials “exploited emergency flexibilities during a public health emergency to conveniently obtain Adderall and other stimulants for purposes other than legitimate medical purposes in the ordinary course of professional practice.” . The company found many patients through advertising on social media.
Prosecutors claimed that under the company’s policy, patient evaluations were limited to 30 minutes and that doctors were supposed to prescribe stimulants “even if Done members were ineligible.” (In fact, Done advertised 30-minute initial appointments on its website.) The document noted that Done did not require follow-up appointments and even refused to reimburse providers for any appointment fees after the initial consultation — He allegedly wrote , this action is: “Follow-up actions are not encouraged.”
The indictment alleges Done also created false documents, including patient records and prior authorizations, to submit “false and fraudulent claims” to pharmacies and Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies that “paid out more than approximately $14 million.” .
Much of this should come as no surprise: March 2022, new york post Doctors are worried about a surge in social media ads from telemedicine companies peddling stimulants, reports say. In the same month, wall street journal According to the report, telemedicine startups like Done are “putting pressure on clinicians to prescribe stimulants, and some [employees] stated that the company’s initial 30-minute film assessment is often insufficient to diagnose ADHD. Violation of the Controlled Substances Act.
To substantiate the obstruction of justice charge, the indictment alleges that as public opinion turned against the company, executives such as Ho and Broidy began “corruptly altering, destroying and concealing records and documents,” including after receiving a grand jury subpoena back.
The government claims Done has prescribed 40 million pills and generated $100 million in revenue since the pandemic began. Ironically, much of this alleged overprescription occurred as the United States experienced a severe Adderall shortage—and government officials still refused to take any responsibility.
as reason The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first declared an Adderall shortage in October 2022, according to extensive records. The loosening of regulations has led to a spike in ADHD diagnosis rates.
But the federal government sets annual production caps on controlled substances, including amphetamines, which form the active ingredient in prescription stimulants like Adderall. The government has resisted raising quotas since the Adderall shortage began, keeping the cap in place even as demand for the drug peaked.
The DEA noted in its 2023 report that while it is “aware of patients reporting that pharmacies are unable to fill their prescriptions for Adderall or one of its generic versions,” it has “not yet implemented increased [quota] In its 2024 report, the agency “determined” existing quotas “are sufficient to meet legitimate medical needs, reserve stocks, and export requirements through 2024.”
If prosecutors’ claims are true, Done Global likely engaged in fraud and criminal negligence to maximize profits at the expense of patients — at least one of whom died, allegedly as a result of the company’s lax policies.
But for people with ADHD who truly rely on drugs like Adderall, the government’s actions have created drug shortages, leaving countless people without access to the medications that enable them to function better. While Lucia Ho and David Broidy will face the consequences of their actions, it is unlikely that any government official will face the same consequences.
