AUGUSTA – The state has censured and fined a Lewiston urologist $10,000 for billing Medicare for drug samples he had received for free from a drug company.

The Board of Licensure in Medicine announced it signed a consent agreement this week with Dr. Joel S. Olstein in which Olstein admitted he had engaged in unprofessional conduct by billing for the drug samples used to treat prostate cancer.

Olstein admitted he had received complimentary dosages of Lupron from a pharmaceutical company and then billed Medicare after administering the drugs to patients, the board said.

Olstein pleaded guilty in July in federal court to health care fraud for giving free samples to patients and submitting claims to insurers totaling between $40,000 and $70,000.