FRANKFORT, Ky. – On Friday, a federal jury convicted five former owners of PremierTox, a clinical laboratory in Russell Springs, Kentucky, of seventeen counts of health care fraud, each. The defendants were acquitted on various other counts that alleged related conduct. The seventeen counts of conviction related to medically unnecessary urine drug tests, which were submitted by the defendants’ laboratory to Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield with the intent to defraud the health insurer.

The evidence at trial established that Dr. Bryan Wood and Dr. Robin Peavler owned a chain of addiction treatment clinics called SelfRefind, headquartered in Danville, Kentucky. Patients at SelfRefind underwent urine drug testing as part of their treatment protocol. The urine drug testing consisted of screening tests, which indicated whether a drug was in the patient’s system, as well as more sophisticated and precise confirmation tests that were ordered when the treating physician felt it was necessary. At trial, all of the physician witnesses testified that they needed the confirmation test results by the time the patient came in for their next visit.