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In a shocking case of medical fraud, a Tennessee-based pain management company, Pain MD, has been found guilty of running a decade-long scheme that capitalized on opioid-dependent patients by forcing them to undergo unnecessary and painful injections. Federal court documents reveal that the company amassed millions of dollars by falsely promoting ineffective treatments while keeping patients reliant on prescription painkillers.
Patients Held Hostage for Painkillers
Michelle Shaw, a 56-year-old woman who has suffered from chronic pain for over a decade, testified that Pain MD mandated monthly injections before renewing her opioid prescriptions. Despite the clinic’s claims that these shots would alleviate pain, Shaw and several other patients reported increased agony after each injection. Those who refused the procedure were denied their medication, leaving them with no alternative but to comply.
“I had nowhere else to go at the time,” Shaw stated during her courtroom testimony. “I was stuck.”
Pain MD, which operated multiple clinics across Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina, was one of the country’s most prolific administrators of so-called “tendon origin injections.” However, a federal investigation determined that these injections were neither medically necessary nor effective in reducing pain.
Fraudulent Practices Unveiled
According to federal prosecutors, Pain MD performed nearly 700,000 injections over an eight-year period, often administering as many as 24 shots in a single visit. The company’s president, Michael Kestner, along with other executives, has been convicted of multiple felonies, including health care fraud.
Court testimony revealed that the injections contained only short-term numbing agents, such as lidocaine, and were improperly administered without imaging technology. Medical expert Dr. Scott Kreiner testified that Pain MD’s practices bore no resemblance to legitimate tendon origin injections, which typically require only a single dose of steroids to treat inflamed joints.
“I simply cannot fathom a scenario where the sheer quantity of injections I observed would ever be medically necessary,” Dr. Kreiner said.
Financial Exploitation of Patients and Insurers
Pain MD allegedly exploited patients’ desperation by billing Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers for excessive and unwarranted procedures. Federal court documents show the company billed Medicare for over 290,000 injections between 2010 and 2018, collecting more than $5 million from the government. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee was billed approximately $40 million for over 380,000 injections, ultimately paying out $7 million before cutting ties with the fraudulent clinics.
Former U.S. Attorney Don Cochran condemned the scheme, stating, “The opioid crisis created a universe of compliant patients who wouldn’t question what was happening. This case was particularly nefarious because the clinic used opioids to coerce people into medically unnecessary treatments.”
Pain MD’s Downfall
The fraudulent practices of Pain MD came to light in 2018 when federal authorities filed a civil lawsuit against the company. The organization declared bankruptcy in 2019, leaving many patients without access to their medical records and prescriptions. Testimonies from former employees revealed that the clinic pressured its medical staff to perform excessive injections, often at the insistence of Kestner, who ranked employees based on injection rates.
One nurse practitioner testified that she received daily emails urging her to increase injection numbers, while another employee, Brian Richey, stated that excessive injections led to a severe hand injury requiring surgery.
“I was in so much pain injecting people that didn’t want it but took it to stay a patient,” Richey testified.
Despite defense arguments that Pain MD was attempting to avoid being labeled a “pill mill,” prosecutors contended that the clinic’s practices did nothing to reduce opioid dependency. Instead, they accused the company of manipulating patients while continuing to prescribe high doses of painkillers.
Kestner is set to be sentenced on April 21 in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee. Several other Pain MD employees have already pleaded guilty or been convicted of fraud.
Disclaimer:
This article is based on publicly available court documents and news reports. It does not serve as medical or legal advice. Patients experiencing chronic pain should consult a licensed medical professional for appropriate treatment options.
