NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Clarksville doctor has been sentenced for more than a dozen felony healthcare fraud charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

Dr. Samson K. Orusa, 61, of Clarksville, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for billing Medicare for hundreds of medically unnecessary services, including unnecessary office visits and steroid injections, the DOJ said in an announcement.

Evidence showed he required Medicare beneficiaries and other patients to visit his clinic as many as six times each month and to undergo unnecessary steroid injections in order to obtain their prescriptions. Additionally, evidence showed Orusa altered progress visit notes in his patients’ medical records to justify higher billing rates.

“Combating health care fraud is a top priority for this office,” said U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis. “As a result of the excellent work done in this case by our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, this physician will now be serving 7 years in federal prison for defrauding the Medicare program.”

Orusa was charged with 45 criminal violations in 2018, including 13 counts of healthcare fraud. He was convicted of all but nine counts of illegal distribution of oxycodone. The most recent sentencing reflects only the healthcare fraud crimes charged in the indictment, according to the DOJ.

In addition to the 7-year prison sentence, Orusa was ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release. He was also fined $195,000 and must forfeit previously seized assets worth approximately $900,000.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation; the Clarksville Police Department; and the 19th Judicial District Drug Task Force.