Local hospitals to care for Gerber's patients

SANDUSKY — Local hospitals met recently to discuss how to help more than 200 local patients after their doctor was accused of overprescribing opioids.Weeks before federal agents executed a search warrant at Dr. Gregory Gerber's office, the doctor informed Firelands Regional Medical Center that he intended to close his practice.On Wednesday, local healthcare providers met to discuss the prescription of opioids and how to best provide access to care for Gerber's patients from across Northwest Ohio."Patty Martin, vice president of quality for Firelands, led a discussion pertaining to access to regional resources to serve patients who may need assistance in dealing with opioid and other medication dependence," Firelands spokeswoman Alex Cruey said.The meeting included representatives from Firelands, Firelands Physician Group, Fisher-Titus Medical Center, the Bellevue Hospital, Magruder Hospital, Family Health Services, Erie County Health Department, Stein Hospice and primary care and specialty care physicians."It was the consensus of the group to create standard protocols and a care path to assure consistency and continuity of care," Cruey said. "Over the next two weeks, the provider community will develop and share triage and treatment guidelines to assure an appropriate level of care regardless of the point at which a patient may seek help within the region."Gerber was affiliated with Firelands Regional Medical Center as an independent healthcare provider, but he wasn't employed by the hospital.When the hospital learned about the Justice Department's complaint against Gerber's prescribing habits, they suspended him from the hospital. He can no longer use the facilities or admit patients.Over prescribing opioids?Gerber had an office on Hayes Avenue, near the old KBI factory, where he specialized in physical medicine and rehabilitation and pain management.The Justice Department accused Gerber of writing unlawful prescriptions after a DEA and Ohio Pharmacy Board investigation alleged he wrote prescriptions for powerful opioids, including fentanyl, without accepted medical reason.In a first of its kind legal measure, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing Gerber from writing prescriptions for schedule II-IV drugs — drugs with an accepted medical use but a high risk of abuse.The complaint also alleges Gerber accepted $175,000 from a pharmaceutical company to prescribe and promote a fentanyl medicine, meant for cancer patients. Gerber purportedly prescribed it to people who didn't need it.The court upheld the restraining order Thursday after Gerber failed to appear for an injunction hearing at the U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio in Toledo.Reach reporter Michael Harrington at michaelharrington@sanduskyregister.com, follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegister