ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A pain management doctor based in Atlanta has been ordered to pay $3.5 million after being accused of billing for medically unnecessary testing and illegally pre-signing opioid prescriptions.

The settlement comes from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which said Kamal Kabakibou, who practiced under The Center for Pain Management, violated the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Act.

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Kabakibou operates clinics in Atlanta and Blue Ridge, which include labs for urine and drug tests. The DOJ said Kabakibou performed needless and repetitive lab testing and submitted payment claims to federal health insurance agencies.

Kabakibou is also accused of frequently and unlawfully pre-signing prescriptions, including those for opioids, for nurses to dispense while he was traveling out of the country.

“Dr. Kamal Kabakibou had a responsibility to issue controlled substance prescriptions for a legitimate medical purpose, while acting in the usual course of his professional practice, in order to prevent the diversion of dangerous prescription drugs, especially opioids,” Jae Chung, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Atlanta Division, said in a statement. “The moment he decided to carelessly distribute drugs and ignore his corresponding responsibility, he became nothing more than a dangerous drug...

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