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Jacksonville doctor pleads guilty to taking kickbacks for prescribing veterans expensive creams

Florida Times-Union - 10/18/2018

Oct. 18--A 59-year-old Jacksonville doctor pleaded guilty Thursday to theft of government property after he got kickbacks as part of a federal health care benefit program, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Felmor C. Agatep, listed on numerous doctor rating websites as an internal medicine specialist with offices on the Southside, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced, prosecutors said.

According to the plea agreement, Agatep wrote prescriptions for expensive compound creams to treat scars and pain, among other things. These creams were prescribed largely to people who had TRICARE, a federal Defense Health Agency health plan. Each prescription cost about $16,000 each on average for a one-month supply, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Agatep was recruited in late 2014 by someone associated with a marketing group in Jacksonville that sought out mostly TRICARE beneficiaries as patients and promoted creams for various pharmacies, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Agatep earned $100 per patient for each prescription for the creams billed to TRICARE. People working for the marketing group gave patient names and telephone numbers to Agatep.

"Agatep never saw the patients and knew that writing the prescriptions was not in the ordinary course of medical practice and not medically necessary," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Court documents state Agatep's prescriptions billed about $4.4 million to the military health system.

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