Ex-LA doc gets two years in prison for opioid mis-prescribing

A former Los Angeles-area physician was sentenced to 24 months in prison for defrauding Medicare and illegally prescribing thousands of opioid painkillers and muscle relaxers.

Kain Kumar (56) of Palmdale, California, will also be subject to another three years of supervised release and must pay $509,365 in restitution, $494,900 in asset forfeiture, and a $72,000 fine in connection with the scam. He pleaded guilty to the charges in April 2019.

Kumar admitted that between February 2013 and January 2016, he prescribed 23,826 pills of the opioid drug hydrocodone (sold under the brand names Vicodin or Norco) and 38,459 pills of the muscle-relaxer carisoprodol (sold as Soma) without a legitimate medical purpose.

He also defrauded the Medicare health care benefit program by prescribing unnecessary home health services in exchange for the payment of illegal kickbacks to him from a La Verne, California-based home health agency called Star Home Health Resources.