The defendant is accused of submitting approximately $9 million in fraudulent claims to Medicaid and Medicare.
The pharmacist’s fraud scheme involved inducing indigent and elderly persons to surrender their prescriptions and forego their medications in exchange for kickbacks. The defendant engaged in a scheme to obtain prescriptions for medications, for which her pharmacies billed and received reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, but which she did not actually dispense to customers.
The pharmacy owner is charged with one count of health care fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and one count of paying illegal remuneration in the form of kickbacks, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Compliance and Ethics Code of Conduct:
Kickbacks, Inducement, and Self-Referrals. Employees and contractors shall comply with all laws relating to kickbacks, inducements, and self-referrals.
Employees and contractors shall not knowingly offer, pay, solicit, or receive bribes, kickbacks, or other improper remuneration in order to induce business reimbursable by any federal or state governmental program including, but not limited to, Medicare and/or Medicaid.
All employees and contractors are required to report any gifts or other gratuities, other than those of nominal value, received from any outside source that is in the position to benefit from the referral of business.
