
Anny Sivilay / Sequoyah County Times
The Wellness Clinic in Roland, Okla., has come under scrutiny from narcotics and medical-board officials.
This story is part of a joint project by Oklahoma Watch and The Oklahoman.
If there were an official business model for a high-volume pain clinic, drug enforcers say, it would probably resemble the Wellness Clinic in Roland.
Located in Sequoyah County a few miles west of Fort Smith, Ark., the clinic was operating with a simple set of ground rules and standard procedures when Oklahoma authorities investigated it during 2013 and early 2014.
According to documents filed in June and August of this year by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control and the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision:
Monthly “exams” generally lasted no more than five minutes. Sometimes a doctor was there, sometimes a physician assistant, sometimes just the office manager.