MIAMI DOCTOR JAILED IN MEDICAID OXYCONTIN FRAUD CASE

The top prescriber of OxyContin to Medicaid patients in the state
faces drug-trafficking charges for allegedly selling prescriptions for
the painkiller.

Dr. Ronald E. Harris, 53, of Miami, sold undercover police officers 10
prescriptions for 80mg OxyContin pills for $1,000, without proof of
any medical need and without even conducting a physical exam,
authorities said.

Abuse of prescription drugs such as OxyContin is killing people,"
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said in a statement announcing
the arrest on Friday. "By prosecuting `pill doctors' we not only try
to ensure that the citizens of Florida remain safe, we also curb
rising Medicaid costs."

State health officials have stepped up scrutiny of narcotics
prescriptions in the wake of a series of stories this fall in the
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, "Drugging the Poor," which detailed how a
small cadre of Florida physicians have prescribed huge amounts of
narcotics to Medicaid patients, costing taxpayers millions of dollars
and contributing to a torrent of overdose deaths.

So far this year, Harris has written more prescriptions for OxyContin
under Medicaid, the health care plan for the poor and disabled, than
any other doctor in the state, according to Crist. Medicaid paid
pharmacies more than $694,000 in 2003 and so far this year for filling
prescriptions he wrote for the drug, Crist said.

Harris has been charged with 10 counts of trafficking in a controlled
substance, a second-degree felony. He faces up to 15 years in prison
on each count if convicted. Harris remains in the Turner Gilford
Knight Center in Miami, and bond was set at $150,000.

Neither Harris, nor his lawyer, Yery Marrero, could be reached for
comment on Friday.

Police sent undercover officers into the doctor's office at 17330 NW
27th Ave. after receiving "numerous complaints" that he was writing
precriptions for the drug without seeing the patients.

Harris told police he routinely wrote 15 to 20 prescriptions for the
drug each week without making any patient records, according to the
arrest affidavit.

The case against the doctor resulted from a joint operation by the
Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Miami-Dade and
North Miami Beach police departments.

State legislators have been struggling to combat fraud in Florida's
$12 billion-a-year Medicaid program, the nation's fifth largest.
Florida Medicaid spends about $2 billion annually on medicines, the
health program's fastest-growing area for spending.

The newspaper series uncovered millions of dollars in suspect pharmacy
charges, including narcotics billed in the names of doctors who were
ineligible to write prescriptions or even dead.

The series found that seven doctors in the state each prescribed more
than $1 million worth of OxyContin during a three-year period, when
the state spent more than $82 million on the drug.