The state Department of Health and Human Resources has gone to court to shut down a Raleigh County pain-pill clinic after the owner twice defied the state's orders to close.
DHHR has asked a Raleigh County judge for an injunction to shutter Coal Country Clinic in Daniels. A hearing is scheduled for Monday.
DHHR inspections have forced a dozen pain clinics to close over the past year in West Virginia, after implementing new laws that aim to crack down on prescription drug abuse.
"It is critically important that we enforce the pain clinic legislation to the extent the law allows," said DHHR Secretary Karen Bowling. "It is our obligation to ensure that providers meet the appropriate standards defined by this law."
State inspectors cited Coal Country Clinic - owned by Dr. Michael Kostenko - for failing to keep sufficient medical records that documented patient assessments and diagnoses. Kostenko, an osteopathic physician, also didn't have the state-mandated training and education to run a pain clinic in West Virginia, according to DHHR.
DHHR's Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification, which oversees pain clinic inspection, directed Kostenko to close his pain management practice by July 6.
On Aug. 13, state inspectors returned to Kostenko's clinic, located on C&O Dam Road in Daniels. DHHR fined Kostenko for ignoring its orders to cease operations, and the state issued a second directive to shut down the clinic.
State pharmacy board records show Kostenko is still writing prescriptions for pain pills at the clinic, DHHR said.
"The public continues to be at risk of irreparable harm so long as Dr. Kostenko continues to prescribe powerful narcotic medications..." DHHR alleged in a complaint filed in Raleigh County Circuit Court.
A message on Coal Country Clinic's answering machine said the clinic would be temporarily closed through the Thanksgiving holidays. Kostenko did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2005, the state Workers' Compensation Commission charged Kostenko with "routinely performing exams unrelated to work-related injuries and assessed diagnoses which are unaccepted by the general medical community."
The commission also alleged that Kostenko provided care that was "excessive, medically unreasonable and unethical" - findings echoed by the state Board of Osteopathic Medicine.
The commission and board accused Kostenko of allowing massage therapists to administer unnecessary injections to patients' tendons.
The commission ordered him to repay $1.3 million in workers' compensation fees that he received.
In 2008, Kostenko sued BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co., which took over West Virginia's workers' comp program two years earlier, alleging he was barred from receiving fees because he was a whistleblower who reported on toxic pollution at a Wyoming County industrial site.
Kostenko's practice is the second Raleigh County pain clinic to face scrutiny in recent days.
Last week, West Virginia State Police and the FBI raided Responsible Pain and Aesthetic Management clinic in Beckley. Dr. J.J. Gordinho, who works at the clinic, was charged with illegally distributing pain pills for non-medical purposes. A former doctor at Gordinho's clinic acted as a confidential informant during the investigation.
Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.