(NaturalNews) The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) is reporting that a Miami psychiatrist has prescribed nearly 14 million pills to Medicaid patients since 2004. According to the report, Fernando Mendez-Villamil wrote about 285,000 prescriptions in just six years with a total taxpayer cost of $43 million.
The astounding find is part of an investigation into the legitimacy of Mendez-Villamil's practice; after all, the numbers suggest that he would have had to prescribe about 4,000 prescriptions a month, or 1,000 a week, in order to achieve the large total.
Mendez-Villamil is already recognized as the most profuse drug prescriber in the state of Florida. Prior to the state's implementation of new computer tracking protocols around 2007, Mendez-Villamil's prescription rate was at its highest; after those measures began taking effect, his prescription rate slowed by almost 33 percent.
Mendez-Villamil's highest year was 2004 when he issued over 62,000 prescriptions totaling $12.2 million. The numbers averaged out to almost 2,700 patients that year who all received roughly 23 prescriptions each. When all was said and done, each patient received an average of 1,200 pills in 2004.
According to the report, Mendez-Villamil often prescribes some of the most expensive psychotropic drugs to his patients, including Zyprexa which costs about $840 for a 30-day supply. Other common prescriptions include Abilify at over $630 a month and Seroquel at $430.
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