A former Monroeville doctor who signed blank prescriptions for opioids without even seeing his patients will serve 18 months’ probation and pay restitution.
Joseph DiCroce, 68, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court for one count of health care fraud. He pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon.
Although sentencing guidelines suggested DiCroce should serve 12 to 18 months’ incarceration, Bissoon ordered him, instead, to serve only probation.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, DiCroce was operating his medical practice in Monroeville when in May 2018 he suffered a serious fall making him unable to work.
Nevertheless, he completed blank, pre-signed prescriptions and directed his office staff to finish them with patient names and dosages of medications — frequently opioids — consistent with what they had previously received.
DiCroce did not require the patients to be seen by a doctor or undergo urine drug testing. Some patients had not been seen for years, prosecutors said.
DiCroce’s attorney said in court paperwork that his client consulted with his malpractice carrier before completing the pre-signed prescriptions.
“Dr. DiCroce wrote prescriptions to cover patients until such time as he could return full time (which he had been assured he could), to prevent the possibility of patient opioid withdrawal or other contraindications,” wrote the attorney, Charles J. Porter Jr.
Based on those prescriptions, the government said, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services lost $442,086.57.
Prosecutors filed a memorandum that said DiCroce’s actions put patients — and potentially others — at risk for opioids being abused or sold.
Although DiCroce did not directly profit from the prescriptions, the government said, he may have benefited by keeping those patients in his practice.
As part of the plea agreement, DiCroce agreed to forfeit his license to practice and pay restitution.
The defense asked for a reduced sentence, arguing in court filings that DiCroce helps care for his wife, who uses a wheelchair.