A former executive at an electronic medical records company has pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct a federal investigation into the relationship between his former employer, Practice Fusion Inc. and Purdue Pharma, the major opioid manufacturer.
In a plea deal, Steve Mack, 46, of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty Monday in the U.S. District Court of Vermont to one count of attempting to obstruct a federal investigation. He agreed to cooperate with the investigation and provide information about “all criminal activities” known to him and faces up to 18 months in prison and a $75,000 fine.
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, it was the first prosecution of an individual in the investigations of Purdue Pharma and Practice Fusion. Mack is the first person to be criminally charged from a leading electronic medical records vendor and the fourth person to be charged in Vermont in connection with electronic medical records investigations.
Mack was the director of national accounts for Practice Fusion in 2015 and 2016. During that time, he was the principal point of contact between Practice Fusion and Purdue Pharma on the subject of the investigations into the companies.
Mack admitted that he deleted hundreds of files relevant to the investigation from his company-issued laptop, “with the intent to obstruct the investigation,” according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
Judge William Sessions ordered Mack to be released on conditions, awaiting a sentencing hearing in June.
In January 2020, U.S. Attorney for Vermont Christina Nolan announced a deferred prosecution agreement with Practice Fusion, in which the company admitted to soliciting and receiving kickbacks from Purdue Pharma in exchange for arranging an increase in prescriptions of extended-release opioids from health care providers who used Practice Fusion’s software.
Federal officials say opioid overdoses caused more than 42,000 deaths in 2016, more than any previous year on record.
Purdue paid Practice Fusion nearly $1 million to create an alert that would prompt doctors to prescribe more extended-release opioids. According to the justice department, the alerts were presented to the doctors as “objective medical guidance” and were directly financed by Purdue’s marketing department.
In October 2020, a plea agreement was announced in which Purdue Pharma would plead guilty to conspiring to violate the anti-kickback laws relating to its arrangement with Practice Fusion, among other things. The company pleaded guilty to illegal conspiracy with Practice Fusion in November.
Mack’s case was investigated by the FBI and the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Former executive pleads guilty to obstructing Purdue Pharma investigation.