MORRIS, Minn. -- A Morris physician, who serves a wide area of central and southwest Minnesota as an allergy and asthma specialist, has been reprimanded by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice for a variety of misconduct issues and has been given a conditional license to practice.
If he doesn’t meet certain conditions, Dr. Jack Mutnick also faces a license suspension for engaging in such conduct as writing false or undocumented prescriptions and fraudulent billing practices.
The board also found Mutnick exhibited a “range of behavioral issues while on duty at his clinical practice.”
He is accused of violating state or federal law, engaging in unethical and unprofessional conduct, and being unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill due to illness.
Mutnick works in and from the Stevens Community Medical Center in Morris.
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The conditions set by the state board for Mutnick to keep his license include a ban on prescribing or dispensing prescription drugs for his own use or his family's use, completing a pre-approved medical ethics course, continuing to engage in therapy with a psychiatrist or therapist, meeting with a supervising physician and paying a civil penalty of $16,223.
Mutnick has been a physician at the medical center since 2010 and also works at satellite clinics in Glenwood, Litchfield, Montevideo, New Ulm, Redwood Falls, Ortonville and Tracy.
In a statement, the medical center announced that the doctor will continue to see patients.
The center added, “Patient safety is a top priority to us. We do not condone Dr. Mutnick's actions. We believe that at no time was patient safety affected by these circumstances and we are following the board's guidance. Dr. Mutnick will continue to see his patients, provided there is no further action by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice."
The investigation began in December 2013 when the medical board received a complaint alleging that Mutnick had authorized prescriptions for controlled substances for himself and family members and "exhibited a range of behavioral issues while on duty at his clinical practice."
An investigation revealed that Mutnick wrote unauthorized and undocumented prescriptions, dispensed a homemade skin cream to patients, and engaged in abusive or fraudulent billing practices.
According to the documentation, since 2011 Mutnick:
- Authorized a prescription of a controlled substance for a family member, but forged the name of another physician on the prescription form;
- Authorized prescriptions of a controlled substance for a family member without performing a physical exam or documenting the prescription
- Wrote several prescriptions for family members, neighbors and friends without performing a physical exam, documenting the prescriptions, or communicating the treatment to the patients' primary care physicians or other providers.
Mutnick also authorized prescriptions for himself to treat depression that were not documented in a clinical record. He subsequently met with a therapist in February 2014.
According to the investigation, Mutnick also dispensed a topical skin cream he made at his home. He labeled each container and listed an expiration date, but did not include information about the ingredients or instructions for application.
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Mutnick "also failed to create or maintain records regarding each batch of the cream, such as the date of preparation, the ingredients contained in the cream, the quantity of each component, or the total quantity prepared in the batch."
During a similar time period, the investigation showed that Mutnick incorrectly coded patient visits, resulting in a higher level of payment from his patients. Mutnick also exaggerated the amount of time he spent seeing patients. Mutnick's employment contract included quarterly bonuses based on the dollar amounts the billing department collected. According to the documents, Mutnick received bonus pay of more than $500,000 based on billings between January and October 2013.
In early 2014, the billing department at the medical center took over the coding and billing for his patients.
In a hearing before the state Complaint Review Committee last October, Mutnick admitted writing false or undocumented prescriptions, dispensing skin cream made in his home, and incorrectly coding his patient visits.
According to the documents, Mutnick also "acknowledged that some of his interactions with clinic staff and other health professionals had been 'angry,' but expressed regret for his past actions and reported that he had been learning new coping skills in his therapy sessions to improve his practice."
The order from the state board will be in effect for a minimum of two years, after which Mutnick may petition for reinstatement of an unconditional license.
