Photo by Megan Wood / inewsource
Above: Dr. James Novak in Pacfic Beach treating patients from the San Diego area with an IV infusion procedure marketed by Trina Health is shown on April 9, 2018.
A San Diego doctor, who was a key figure in a 2018 inewsource investigation into a diabetes treatment that some have labeled a fraud, is facing indictments in the state medical association for parole or loss of his license and ability to practice medicine practice, could lead.
The charges were brought against Dr. James Novak and concerns two diabetes patients who were treated with the controversial four-hour IV insulin procedure in his doctor’s office. Treatment was offered by a Trina Health clinic that Novak previously founded in August 2016 as part of his family practice in Pacific Beach.
The Executive Director of the Medical Board accuses him of repeated negligence in 2017 and 2018, failure to keep adequate and accurate medical records, and unprofessional conduct.
An employee of his Novak Medical Group said the doctor declined to comment on the board’s actions. The employee said Novak had hired a lawyer and did not want to comment as it was an ongoing investigation.
According to the indictment, Novak and his lawyer sat down for an interview with an investigator in January 2020 as part of the medical committee investigation. Novak seems to have continued to see patients since then – Yelp reviews this year ranged from one to five stars.
The doctor is heard before the medical association, which then decides whether disciplinary measures are taken. A board spokesman declined inewsource’s interview request. In an email response, she said the board’s mission is “consumer protection and this mandate is taken very seriously”.
RELATED: Hustling Hope: A New Research From Trina Health
Novak is an affiliate of Scripps Mercy Hospital, enabling him to refer patients to his Hillcrest and Chula Vista locations and to communicate and share patient information with Scripps doctors. In response to questions sent via email, a Scripps spokesperson said Novak’s relationship with Scripps will be assessed after the Medical Board’s action is resolved. The spokesman also noted that Scripps Health has no power to regulate the private practice of an independent medical practitioner.
The inewsource investigation three years ago by reporter Cheryl Clark, titled “Hustling Hope,” documented how the now-banned Sacramento attorney G. Ford Gilbert developed a business model that required a national network of Trina Health clinics to solicit applications Submit the insulin infusion procedure based on outpatient medical service codes that Medicare and insurers originally paid for.
At first, insurers failed to realize that the treatment – administered by the Trina clinics – was what the federal agency that operates Medicare refused to reimburse due to the lack of evidence that the procedure improved health outcomes for patients .
Then, in 2018, Gilbert was charged with bribery, health fraud, and referral fraud. He was charged with paying an Alabama politician to try to pass a law requiring insurance there to pay for Trina insulin infusions.
After Gilbert pleaded guilty to bribing a public official in 2019, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison, including six months in federal prison.
In San Diego, Novak’s Trina Clinic operations became public after doctors heard some of their patients asked about them. Several doctors interviewed by inewsource at the time raised serious concerns about the treatment, citing it “unproven”, “worrying” and a practice that “takes advantage of people’s vulnerability”.
A doctor and her patient said the woman was at risk from the four-hour procedure when she was sent home after an infusion session with skyrocketing blood sugar levels.
For the “Hustling Hope” research, inewsource surveyed more than 100 diabetes experts, clinic operators, hospital and government officials and investors for months, and Clark covered a section that ran on the PBS NewsHour in June 2018. The Association of Health Care Journalists also awarded Clark, photo and video journalist Megan Wood, and inewsource editor Lorie Hearn a first place in the Investigative for Small Publications category.
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