Government
Federal Suit Alleges ‘Staggering’ Urine Drug Testing Fraud at Pain Clinics
The Justice Department on Monday accused a defunct chain of Tennessee-based pain clinics of cheating Medicare and other taxpayer-funded health insurers out of at least $25 million in needless urine drug tests and genetic testing.
The civil lawsuit names Comprehensive Pain Specialists, also known as Anesthesia Services Associates PLLC; four of its physician owners; and a former top executive. The doctors include Tennessee Republican State Sen. Steven Dickerson and Peter Kroll, both anesthesiologists.
At its peak, CPS ran 60 pain clinics in a dozen states and treated some 48,000 patients per month, according to the suit. It shut down abruptly last summer, leaving many chronic pain patients scrambling to find a new source of narcotic medicines.
The Justice Department fraud case centers largely on the company’s lucrative urine-testing lab in Brentwood, Tenn., which CPS financed with a $1.5 million loan. The suit also alleges overbilling from acupuncture and other services offered to patients.
CPS was the subject of a November 2017 investigation by Kaiser Health News that scrutinized Medicare billings for urine drug tests.
Medicare and other federal programs paid over $70 million from 2011 to 2018 for CPS-ordered urine tests, an amount the lawsuit called “staggering.” TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program, paid more than $9 million more during that time.
“For this reason, CPS considered [urine tests] to be ‘liquid gold’ — with revenues of tens of millions of dollars for what was largely unnecessary medical testing,” according to the suit.
The chain’s owners and then-CEO John Davis “viewed every CPS patient as an opportunity to make money, without regard to the individualized need for treatment,” the suit alleges. Davis was convicted last year in Nashville on federal criminal health care fraud charges. He has since filed a motion for a new trial.
Dan Martin, an attorney representing Kroll, said in an emailed statement: “We are aware of the allegations and very familiar with the actual facts. Dr. Kroll did not engage in any wrongdoing whatsoever, and we look forward to correcting the government’s misunderstanding of the facts.”
Dickerson’s attorney, Ed Yarbrough, also issued a statement that read: “Dr. Dickerson is an honest man. We will prove that in court.”
In its investigation, KHN, with assistance from researchers at the Mayo Clinic, found that spending on urine screens and related genetic tests quadrupled from 2011 to 2014 to an estimated $8.5 billion a year — more than the entire budget of the Environmental Protection Agency. The federal government paid medical providers more to conduct urine drug tests in 2014 than it spent on the four most recommended cancer screenings combined.
CPS was among the nation’s most aggressive testers. KHN found that in 2014 five of its medical professionals stood among the nation’s top billers. Anita Bayles, a nurse practitioner working at a CPS clinic in Cleveland, Tenn., generated $1.1 million in urine-test billings that year, according to Medicare records analyzed by KHN.
The Justice Department suit says that CPS believed Bayles ordered too many urine tests and overprescribed opioids and in September 2016 decided to fire her. But the decision was reversed by CEO Davis “because of her ability to generate revenues,” according to the suit. Bayles could not be reached for comment.
Though CPS ran six or more urine tests a year on many patients receiving narcotics, its doctors often did not review the results to make sure patients did not abuse them, according to the suit.
Kroll, who also served as CPS’ medical director, told KHN in 2017 that the high volume of tests was justified to keep patients safe and to reduce chances of black market sales of pills. Kroll billed Medicare $1.8 million for urine tests in 2015, the KHN analysis of Medicare billing records found.
Kroll said in a 2017 interview that he and Dickerson came up with the idea to open a high-quality pain practice over a cup of coffee at a Nashville Starbucks in 2005.
But the Justice Department alleges that CPS expanded rapidly through bilking the government, conduct that its top executives and founders “failed to take any action to stop,” according to the suit.
In what is called a “particularly egregious example of this fraudulent conduct,” the Justice Department alleged that Kroll caused over 2,500 claims to be submitted to Medicare, for which CPS was paid almost $350,000, during a 10-day period in May 2017 when Kroll was on vacation in Italy.
“Because of these fraudulent claims, Kroll’s billing privileges with Medicare have been revoked,” according to the suit.
The lawsuit states that Medicare officials began investigating overcharging for urine testing at CPS in 2014 and eventually directed the company to repay the government $27.4 million in an extrapolated penalty. But CPS aggressively appealed the decision and managed to get it overturned and stay in business.
Community
Four Candidates, Including Incumbent Barbara Lee, Qualify for Oakland Mayor’s Race
POST NEWS GROUP — Four candidates, including incumbent Mayor Barbara Lee, filed their papers to run for office by last Friday’s deadline, and the City Clerk issued a list this week of those who are qualified to run.
The four mayoral candidates who will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot are:
Brenda Grisham. A business owner in East Oakland and public safety advocate, Grisham led the successful recall campaign against Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price. As part of her platform, she pledges to work with local, state, and federal partners to secure stricter gun control measures and investments in community violence intervention programs.
Barbara Lee. A former congressional representative and state Assembly member, Lee was elected by voters in a special election last year for a two-year term. Now running for a four-year term, she points out that her administration achieved major successes in addressing some of the city’s major challenges, including balancing the city budget, dramatically reducing crime, and making significant inroads into homelessness and illegal dumping.
Mindy Pechenuk. An educator and activist, Pechenuk is a registered Republican and supporter of Lyndon LaRouche, who has been described by observers as a conspiracy theorist and cult leader. She ran unsuccessfully for mayor in last year’s special election and for the at-large council seat in 2024. She seeks to end Oakland’s police commission and MACRO and invest in more police while launching a new local war on drugs.
Julius Robinson. While little information is available so far about Robinson, he was quoted in a KTVU story about Thao’s recall, stating that people in Oakland want to come together as a community but lack infrastructure and leadership.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026
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Commentary
COMMENTARY: Why Local School Tax Measure G1 Will Not Be on the November Ballot
POST NEWS GROUP — Measure G1 is the local tax measure that supports middle school teacher retention and the expansion of arts, music, and world language programs at both OUSD middle schools and charter middle schools. The current measure expires in 2029.
There has been considerable speculation recently about why Measure G1 will not appear on the November ballot and what that means for the Oakland Unified School District’s current budget.
I want to provide some clarity about what happened and, importantly, what did not happen.
Measure G1 is the local tax measure that supports middle school teacher retention and the expansion of arts, music, and world language programs at both OUSD middle schools and charter middle schools. The current measure expires in 2029.
Because these funds are important to our schools and to the continuity of these programs, the district initially intended to place a renewal initiative on the November ballot to provide greater early certainty about funding beyond the expiration of the current measure.
As part of that process, the Board scheduled a special meeting for the required public hearing on the ballot initiative. There has been some suggestion that this meeting was noticed only one day in advance. That is not accurate.
Public hearings of this nature are subject to specific notice requirements, and the meeting must be noticed at least two weeks before the hearing. In practice, the notice may appear even earlier depending on publication schedules. The notice for the Measure G1 public hearing was published in the Tribune on 7/24/2026 and 7/31/2026.
So, why wasn’t the Measure G1 paperwork ultimately filed?
After the Board approved placing the measure on the ballot, the next step required the Alameda County Superintendent of Schools to sign the necessary paperwork before it could be submitted to the Oakland City Clerk.
During that process, Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro raised concerns about potential litigation stemming from another court case unrelated to OUSD and about whether proceeding with the measure could expose the district or County to legal challenges. Superintendent Castro’s action is unprecedented and concerning.
It is important to distinguish between the Board’s decision to pursue Measure G1 and the subsequent procedural and legal issues that arose. The Board did approve moving forward with the measure. The measure did not fail because the Board chose not to support it, nor was the public hearing improperly noticed.
The decision not to proceed with the November ballot was made in light of the County’s concerns about potential litigation and the County’s required approval process.
We also need to be clear about what this does, and does not, mean for OUSD’s current budget. The existing Measure G1 funds remain available through the expiration of the current measure in 2029. The immediate issue is the longer-term continuity of funding beyond that date, not the elimination of these resources from the current year’s budget.
Our responsibility as a Board is to protect the educational programs and services our students depend on while ensuring that our decisions comply with the law and protect the district from unnecessary legal and financial risk.
We will continue working to understand the County’s concerns, explore our options, and advocate for the resources our students deserve. Our middle school students, teachers, and school communities deserve stability, and continued investment in arts, music, world languages, and teacher retention—and that work remains a priority for Oakland Unified.
Jennifer Brouhard is a retired OUSD educator and is the current OUSD School Board President representing District 2.
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