U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey has sentenced Dr. Stanley L. Librach, a Chesterfield doctor, to five years in prison for his involvement in healthcare fraud schemes. He is also ordered to repay $2.87 million.
Dr. Librach, 64, admitted guilt in August in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis to charges including conspiracy, illegal prescription of controlled substances, paying illegal kickbacks for referrals, and healthcare fraud.
One of the schemes involved Dr. Librach collaborating with Dr. Asim Muhammad Ali and chiropractor Jerry Dale Leech to send urine samples for testing to Central Diagnostic Laboratory (CDL) in exchange for kickbacks funneled to business entities owned by Leech and Denis J. Mikhlin. CDL sought reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid for these tests.
Another scheme involved prescribing oxycodone and other controlled substances without legitimate medical purposes or proper patient examination at pain clinics associated with Drs. Librach and Ali.
“This provider was involved in multiple elaborate healthcare fraud schemes that involved accepting kickbacks and illegally prescribing dangerous and addictive opioids for financial gain,” said Linda T. Hanley from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG).
Michael A. Davis from the Drug Enforcement Administration emphasized the responsibility doctors have when prescribing addictive opioids: “Because opioids are highly addictive, doctors have a duty to ensure they are prescribing controlled medications according to law to protect their patients’ health and safety.”
In 2020, eleven defendants were indicted including three doctors; a twelfth was added in 2022—all have pleaded guilty.
Dr. Ali is scheduled for sentencing this August after pleading guilty last May to similar charges as Dr. Librach’s. Leech pleaded guilty in 2021; his sentencing is set for September this year while Mikhlin was sentenced previously to nine years imprisonment along with a restitution order amounting $181,265.
The investigation was conducted by HHS-OIG alongside DEA’s Missouri division led by Special Agent Michael A Davis among other agencies like FBI & Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit under prosecution led by Assistant U.S Attorneys Amy Sestric Derek Wiseman Jonathan Clow
