Blackfeet tribal doctor gets prison time for kickback scheme
GREAT FALLS — A former Indian Health Services doctor who worked on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and admitted using his job to prescribe a diabetes drug from a pharmacy in exchange for kickbacks was sentenced Thursday to prison.
According to acting U.S. Attorney Leif Johnson, Dr. Arnold Scott Devous, 68, of Billings, pleaded guilty Sept. 10, 2020 to a charge of federal medical officer with conflict of interest. He was sentenced to three months in prison, two years of supervised release and fined $10,000 by Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris. Morris allowed Devous to self-report to prison.
“Dr. Devous used his position and ability to exploit patients in the Blackfeet community. These kinds of kickback schemes erode the public’s trust in its health-care providers at a time when we need that trust more than ever. We will continue to prosecute these schemes to the full extent of the law,” Johnson said in a press release.
"By engaging in kickback schemes, Dr. Devous committed a serious ethics violation which may result in diminished public trust of federal employees,” said Curt L. Muller, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “With our law enforcement partners, we are committed to rooting out corruption in our federal healthcare programs.”
In court documents filed in the case, the prosecution said that Devous used his position at Indian Health Services as a medical officer and in charge of the diabetes program in Browning to prescribe Farxiga, a Type 2 diabetes medication.
Farxiga was not on the Services’ formulary and could not be obtained at the facility. From December 2015 until June 2016, Devous solicited multiple pharmacies in Montana to fill expensive prescriptions of Farxiga in exchange for Devous receiving a "cut" of the profits and kickbacks. Government personnel are prohibited from engaging in these types of relationships.
Ultimately, a pharmacy agreed to Devous' terms and paid him $45,540 in approximately six months. Devous first hid the kickbacks by sending the money to his wife, and then he used a prospective business associate. Neither of these options was allowable under the law.
When interviewed, Devous admitted that his wife received the money, which was illegal. Devous also admitted he never informed his superiors of the outside income as required by law.