A Tennessee advanced practice nurse that pleaded guilty to unlawfully distributing controlled substances to two lovers and others and illegally billing Medicare and Medicaid could have been sentenced to serve up to 50 years in prison after already loosing losing her nursing license for her misconduct.
The license revocation and criminal prosecution, conviction and subsequent 36-month prison sentence imposed on a Tennessee advanced practice nurse that pleaded guilty to illegally prescribing controlled substances to her lovers and other patients and defrauding Medicare and Medicaid warns other health care providers of the perils risked from improper patient relationships, controlled substance prescribing and false billing even though her imposed prison sentence is substantially shorter than the maximum penalty authorized under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
According to court documents, advance practice registered nurse Kelly McCallum operated Convenient Care Clinic (“the “Clinic”) and held a registration from the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”), which allowed her to prescribe controlled substances.
Court documents reflect McCallum, unlawfully prescribed controlled substances, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, at the Clinic. Over approximately four years from January 2017 until early 2021, McCallum prescribed more than two million opioid pills and more than 900,000 pills containing benzodiazepines. The Justice Department alleged some of these prescriptions were provided to individuals with whom she had sexual or other close personal relationships. She is also alleged to have prescribed dangerous combinations of controlled substances to her patients and, when she was out of the office, left pre-signed prescriptions for staff to distribute controlled substances in her absence. The government charged McCallum continued to prescribe controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose even after she became aware a patient fatally overdosed after she prescribed them controlled substances.
Beyond illegally prescribing controlled substances, the government also charged McCallum with health care fraud for allegedly billing TennCare and Medicare for fraudulent office visits on days that she was away from the Clinic, resulting in Medicare and Medicaid paying her approximately $16,234 for services she did not provide.
in June 2021, the Tennessee Board of Nursing summarily suspended McCallum’s registered nurse license and advance practice registered nurse certificate and ordered her to cease and desist from practicing in the state of Tennessee for her professional misconduct.
In May, 2023 McCallum pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances and one count of health care fraud. For her guilty pleas, McCallum could have faced up to 50 years in prison. She faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each controlled substance count, and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the health care fraud count. After considering her sentencing report, however, the Court imposed only a 36 months prison term.
Even with her period of imprisonment set far below the maximum allowed penalty, McCallum’s story provides a cautionary tale for other health care providers about the risks and potential liabilities of violating statutory or ethical prohibitions on sexual relationships with patients, prescribing controlled substances and fraudulent billing for medical services.
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About the Author
Recognized by her peers as a Martindale-Hubble “AV-Preeminent” (Top 1%) and “Top Rated Lawyer” with special recognition LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® as “LEGAL LEADER™ Texas Top Rated Lawyer” in Health Care Law and Labor and Employment Law; as among the “Best Lawyers In Dallas” for her work in the fields of “Labor & Employment,” “Tax: ERISA & Employee Benefits,” “Health Care” and “Business and Commercial Law” by D Magazine, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer is a practicing attorney board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and management consultant, author, public policy advocate and lecturer widely known for 35 plus years of health industry and other management work, public policy leadership and advocacy, coaching, teachings, and publications.
A Fellow in the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel, Co-Chair of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) International Section Life Sciences and Health Committee and VIce-Chair Elect of its International Employment Law Committee, Chair-Elect of the ABA TIPS Section Medicine & Law Committee, Past Chair of the ABA Managed Care & Insurance Interest Group, Scribe for the ABA JCEB Annual Agency Meeting with HHS-OCR, past chair of the ABA RPTE Employee Benefits & Other Compensation Group and current co-Chair of its Welfare Benefit Committee, and Chair of the ABA Intellectual Property Section Law Practice Management Committee, Ms. Stamer is most widely recognized for her decades of pragmatic, leading-edge work, scholarship and thought leadership on healthcare and life science, managed care and insurance and other workforce and staffing, employee benefits, safety, contracting, quality assurance, compliance and risk management, and other legal, public policy and operational concerns in the healthcare and life sciences, employee benefits, managed care and insurance, technology and other related industries. She speaks and publishes extensively on these and other related compliance issues.
Ms. Stamer’s work throughout her career has focused heavily on working with health care and managed care, life sciences, health and other employee benefit plan, insurance and financial services and other public and private organizations and their technology, data, and other service providers and advisors domestically and internationally with legal and operational compliance and risk management, performance and workforce management, regulatory and public policy and other legal and operational concerns. Scribe for the ABA JCEB Annual Meeting with the HHS Office of Civil Rights, her experience includes extensive involvement throughout her career in advising health care and life sciences and other clients about preventing, investigating and defending EEOC, DOJ, OFCCP and other Civil Rights Act, Section 1557 and other HHS, HUD, banking, and other federal and state discrimination investigations, audits, lawsuits and other enforcement actions as well as advocacy before Congress and regulators regarding federal and state equal opportunity, equity and other laws.
For more information about Ms. Stamer or her health industry and other experience and involvements, see www.cynthiastamer.com or contact Ms. Stamer via telephone at (214) 452-8297 or via e-mail here.
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