Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that a Lehigh County man has pleaded no contest to several felonies for posing as a medical professional to administer care to patients, for which Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies paid out claims.

Adam Herman, 44, of Slatington, pleaded no contest Friday in Carbon County court to 17 felonies and one misdemeanor. A no-contest plea has the same legal effect as a guilty plea.

Herman will be sentenced on May 12.

According to the attorney general’s investigation, Herman identified himself either as a physician, certified registered nurse practitioner or nurse to at least nine personal care homes/assisted living facilities and treated patients who believed he was a doctor, CNRP or nurse.

He prescribed medications, incorrectly, and performed other procedures, such as blood draws and injections — even though he was not trained or licensed to do so. Herman had no medical license of any kind.

“The conduct involved here is egregious, in that the defendant put many people at risk by providing fraudulent care and prescribing medications, which had adverse effects,” Sunday said. “The defendant’s pattern of deception also included defrauding the state Medicaid program, which enables in-need Pennsylvanians to acquire treatment and care.”

The details of the case were provided by the attorney general as follows:

In early 2022, a Carbon County doctor and Herman agreed to jointly operate a business that would provide medical care to the residents of personal care homes and assisted living facilities. Although the Carbon County doctor incorrectly believed Herman was a registered nurse, Herman’s role at the practice was to run the business operations of the medical practice, not provide medical care.

In September 2022, the doctor became ill and eventually was unable to continue practicing. Herman obtained the doctor’s cellphone and utilized an authentication app (only accessible to physicians) to dispense controlled substances. Herman submitted prescriptions under the name of the doctor, and claimed services Herman provided were actually authorized by the supervising doctor; they were not.

Due to Herman’s lack of training and certification, many of the patients were provided inaccurate diagnoses and treatments. For example, Herman prescribed diabetes medication to several of the patients, even though the patients were not diabetic, causing them to become ill and lose weight.

While the doctor was ill, Herman treated several care-dependent patients in at least nine different assisted living facilities or personal care homes. He examined patients, diagnosed conditions, prescribed medications and performed minor procedures such as blood draws and injections.

In all, Herman pleaded to 13 counts of neglect (endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person), and one count each of Medicaid fraud, theft by deception, insurance fraud, identity theft and practicing medicine without a license.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorneys General Eric J. Stryd and Eric Schoenberg from the Office of Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control and Insurance Fraud Sections, who worked this case jointly with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Inspector General.