Alleged 'pill pusher' closing medical practice

SANDUSKY — It appears Dr. Gregory Gerber planned to close his Hayes Avenue office even before authorities raided it as part of a federal investigation of doctors overprescribing opiates. "We received a letter that he intended to close his practice within 30 days," said Robert Moore, the legal counsel for Firelands Regional Medical Center. "That letter went out Aug. 1, and then we were alerted to the complaint from the Department of Justice."Gerber is accused of overprescribing opioids — including fentanyl medications — to people who didn't meet the medical requirements for the prescriptions.A U.S. District Court issued a temporary restraining order to prevent Gerber from writing prescriptions for Schedule II-IV drugs — drugs with a medically accepted use but high risk of abuse, including Oxycontin and fentanyl.Gerber had no medical reason for the schedule II drugs he prescribed, said Dr. Milton Landers, an expert witness for the Justice Department, in an affidavit he filed with the court.Last week, DEA and FBI agents executed search warrants at Gerber's Sandusky office, where he practiced medicine as a pain management specialist, and also at Bassett's Market in Port Clinton.Gerber was affiliated with Firelands Regional Medical Center as an independent medical care provider in its medical staff. He could treat patients at the hospital but wasn't employed by the hospital. He has since lost privileges. "We suspended him from the medical staff," Moore said. "He can't admit patients into Firelands and he can't use the medical facilities."Gerber's patientsWith Gerber's practice gone, Firelands and other local hospitals, including Magruder, Bellevue and Fisher-Titus, will meet today to decide how to care for more than 200 patients previously under Gerber's care. "It's not just a Sandusky problem. He was prescribing to patients across Northwest Ohio," Moore said.At the meeting, the hospitals will try to coordinate their efforts to best provide care for the patients and decide how to move forward with their treatment, which in many cases, may not include opioids."Some patients may need those medicines, but there are also other alternatives people can look in to," Moore said.Crackdown on opioid prescribersPart of the allegations against Gerber in Justice Department's complaint to the federal court is that he accepted kickbacks to promote Subsy, a fentanyl-based drug, for a pharmaceutical company, Insys Therapeutics Inc.The complaint contends he violated the False Claims Act by prescribing Subsys, a medicine designed for pain relief for people with cancer, to patients who'd didn't have a medically accepted reason for the drug. Messages left for Insys Therapeutics Inc. seeking comment were not returned.Walmart and the pharmacy at Meijer's stopped filling Gerber's prescriptions because the number of opioids, and dosage levels, he prescribed to patients.According to the affidavit of a DEA investigator, Gerber told one patient to have the prescription filled at Bassett's Market in Port Clinton if he had trouble at other pharmacies. Gerber's wife, Jackie, is a pharmacist at Bassett's.Multiple prescriptions for painkillers Gerber wrote for his in-laws also were filled at Bassett's. His wife even called another pharmacist to ask why her husband's prescriptions weren't being filled, the affidavit states."With his wife, it was more of a fact-driven discussion than a legal one," U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. "In these cases, we are curious if there are other people associated with them who could be involved."The case against Gerber is civil and doesn't include criminal charges at this point. Herdman said he couldn't comment on any specific investigation or if criminal charges would be filed against Gerber. He declined to say whether evidence was being reviewed by a grand jury. The investigation into Gerber is part of the Department of Justice's crackdown on doctors who overprescribe opioids and profit from the epidemic."Anywhere we see doctors who are prescribing in a way that isn't medically necessary, it can lead to the diversion of medicine," Herdman said. "As long as I'm the U.S. Attorney for this district, we will continue to be as aggressive as we can be to enforce the law on physicians who prescribe without reason."Herdman said he couldn't comment on if there are any other investigations pending on doctors who are accused of overprescribing. Firelands Regional Medical Center said there are physicians who over-prescribe, but they are few and far between."My experience working with people in the medical field is, for the most part, doctors are always about the patient and what's right for them, but you do have these outliers who prescribe to generate revenue," Moore said.Gerber's medical licenseDespite his practice closing and the court's barring him from writing schedule II-IV prescription, his license to practice medicine is still active, according to the Medical Board of Ohio, and it doesn't show any past disciplinary actions."There are a number of physicians in Ohio who are practicing with restrictions, whether as a result of federal action against their DEA registration or action by the state board," board spokeswoman Jessie Pollock said.The board oversees the license of doctors in the state and has the power to suspend or revoke a doctor's license. Under Ohio law, complaints the board receives on doctors and any investigations into the doctor are confidential."If an investigation yields board action, that would be public," Pollock said. "Therefore, I would not be able to confirm if the board were/were not investigating or about to take action on Dr. Gerber."According to board guidelines, a doctor shouldn't prescribe more than seven days of opioids to a patient with acute pain unless there is a medical reason and should regularly re-evaluate treatment options for patients with chronic pain and long-term prescriptions.Reach reporter Michael Harrington at michaelharrington@sanduskyregister.com, follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterscreenshot of photo Dr. Gregory Gerber allegedly texted to an undercover DEA agent.