Fake therapist defrauds hundreds; prison doctors discipline; FDA lobbying bypasses

Welcome to the latest edition of Investigative Roundup, where we bring you the best investigative reporting in healthcare each week.

Fake Online Therapist Scams Hundreds of Patients

According to the data, hundreds of patients likely received therapy from an unqualified and untrained person via an online treatment platform, potentially for up to 2 years. KFF Health News.

The scammer allegedly was the husband of Peggy A. Randolph, a social worker who was licensed in Florida and Tennessee and worked for Brightside Health, a company that offers online therapy, according to an investigation by the Florida Department of Health. Randolph’s wife allegedly impersonated her during the online sessions as part of a “coordinated effort,” according to the health department.

The fraud was discovered only after the alleged fraudster died last year, at which time the patient reportedly realized he had been talking to the wrong person during previous online therapy sessions, according to a Tennessee Department of Health settlement agreement.

Randolph reportedly denied having any knowledge of her wife’s activities, but the agreement noted that she “received compensation for the sessions conducted.”

Randolph voluntarily surrendered her social worker license in both states, KFF Health News reported. Brightside Health said KFF Health News the company was “extremely disappointed that one vendor was willing to violate the trust placed in it by Brightside and, most importantly, its patients.”

The company said it had notified and refunded all patients affected by the scam, but declined to say how many patients were affected., The company also recently notified HHS that 767 people were victims of a data breach committed by an “unauthorized person,” the news outlet reported.

Disciplined Doctors Work at Wisconsin Prison

Nearly one-third of doctors employed in the Wisconsin prison system have been disciplined by state medical boards for medical errors or ethical violations, according to data from the past decade. New York Times investigation.

Of the 60 doctors hired over the past decade, almost all had prior criminal records in the state’s prison system, Times reported.

Many have faced lawsuits from inmates who allege medical errors that caused serious harm. In fact, at least 32 lawsuits have been settled over the past decade, for a total of $692,000, and other cases are still pending, according to the news agency.

Disciplinary rates among correctional system physicians far exceed those among all physicians in the state, according to a Public Citizen report. Between 2019 and 2021, Washington state disciplined just 1.23 physicians per 1,000.

In a statement provided TimesA state Department of Corrections spokesman noted that any doctor employed by the prison system must have an unrestricted medical license in Wisconsin. But state Department of Corrections officials also said staffing is the system’s biggest and most persistent problem, according to Times.

Sheldon Wasserman, M.D., former chairman of the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board, reviewed details about some of the doctors employed in the prison system and told The Times, “(a) lot of these people are not employable.”

FDA says former employees can influence ‘what happens behind the scenes’

Although agency rules prohibit former FDA employees from lobbying the agency directly, they can operate “behind the scenes,” according to BMJ investigation.

This BMJ received an email from FDA ethics program staff to Doran Fink, who worked on COVID vaccine reviews before taking the job at Moderna, that included “tailored” recommendations for post-employment restrictions. While former employees are barred from having “different types of lobbying contacts,” they are not barred from working “behind the scenes.”

“So people will leave government service and can go straight into influence peddling and lobbying,” said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen. BMJ“They can even run a lobbying campaign unless they pick up the phone and contact their former officials – and that is exactly the advice being given here.”

The advice about working behind the scenes also appeared several times in emails to Jaya Goswami, another FDA employee who worked on COVID-19 vaccines before joining Moderna, BMJ reported.

It’s worth noting that the agency’s guidance has been part of standard advice sent to employees for years and, since June 2017, has even been on the FDA’s website, which describes post-employment restrictions. BMJ reported.

A spokesman for the agency said BMJ does not consider working behind the scenes to be the same as direct or indirect lobbying. The spokesman added that former employees must comply with those lobbying requirements, governed by the Lobbying Disclosure Act, “just like any other person or organization.”