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Indian Health Doctor Sentenced for Prescription Kickbacks

Devous pleaded guilty in September to being a federal medical officer with a conflict of interest

By Associated Press

GREAT FALLS — A former Indian Health Services doctor who worked in Browning was sentenced to prison Thursday after receiving kickbacks for prescribing an expensive diabetes medication that had to be filled at an outside pharmacy.

U.S. District Judge Brian Morris sentenced Arnold Scott Devous, 68, of Billings, to three months in prison and two years of supervised release and fined him $10,000. Devous pleaded guilty in September to being a federal medical officer with a conflict of interest.

Devous received more than $45,500 in kickbacks from a pharmacy in Choteau that filled prescriptions for Farxiga, a medication used to control blood sugar and reduce the risk of heart failure, prosecutors said.

The medication costs several hundred dollars per month and was not included among the medications the Indian Health Services dispensed at its clinics. Devous received about 80% of the profits from the prescriptions, prosecutors said.

The kickbacks occurred over a six-month period ending in June 2016. Devous was allowed to self-report to prison.