Dive Brief:
Telehealth company Cerebral has agreed to pay a fine of more than $3.6 million for allegedly attempting to boost prescriptions of Adderall and other controlled substances, the Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration said Monday.
Regulators said the online mental healthcare company exploited telehealth flexibilities to try and increase prescriptions of stimulants to boost its patient retention and revenue.
The non-prosecution agreement includes an additional fine of $2.9 million, which regulators deferred becuase Cerebral “does not currently have the ability to pay,” according to a press release.
Dive Insight:
Cerebral, a digital mental healthcare provider that raised hundreds of millions of dollars during the coronavirus pandemic, implemented new measures aimed at boosting prescriptions in early 2021, according to federal regulators.
The measures, which included metrics for tracking prescriptions to patients enrolled in a medication management plan after their first visit and stimulants for patients with ADHD, relied on relaxed telehealth prescribing rules intended to help patients access prescriptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rules, which are still in effect today, allow providers to prescribe some controlled substances without an in-person visit.
Regulators allege Cerebral’s initial visit metric didn’t consider medical literature or whether prescriptions would be clinically appropriate for patients. The company also used financial incentives to spur providers to meet prescribing metrics — and even considered disciplinary measures for those who hadn’t prescribed enough stimulants for ADHD patients, according to a press release.
“Cerebral’s exploitation of telemedicine flexibilities deceived patients who were legitimately seeking medical care, putting them at risk in exchange for profit,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement.
Regulators also alleged Cerebral had thousands of duplicate patient accounts, and at least one patient had received multiple stimulant prescriptions from different providers.
The company took remedial action to fix the prescribing practices starting in May 2022, including terminating its former CEO, according to regulators. Cerebral stopped prescribing controlled substances altogether months later. In a statement, the company said it was “pleased” it entered into the non-prosecution agreement.
The agreement marks another tangle with federal regulators for Cerebral. This spring, the company agreed to pay more than $7 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it had disclosed personal health information for advertising purposes and misled customers about easy cancellation policies.
