On April 11, the medical director and the owner of a pain clinic in Kentucky were sentenced to prison for their roles in a scheme to defraud federal healthcare programs and commercial insurance companies for medically unnecessary urine drug testing. Previously, in March 2023, the clinic’s medical director, William Lawrence Siefert, was convicted of healthcare fraud and the clinic’s owner, Timothy Ehn, was convicted of healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.

The scheme resulted in over $4 million in claims submitted to Medicare and Medicaid and continued even when the clinic’s drug testing machine malfunctioned. As a result, the machine produced results that falsely suggested patients were testing positive for drugs such as heroin and ecstasy. Approximately 75% of the clinic’s revenue was from reimbursement for urine drug testing.

Siefert was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Ehn was sentenced to 30 months. Siefert and Ehn must also pay restitution in the amounts of $1,968,763 and $3,773,569, respectively.