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Pharmacist indicted on Federal Health Care Fraud Charges
Prosecutors and investigators for the United States Department of Justice and the State of New York announced last week an indictment on federal health care fraud charges on a licensed pharmacist and business owner in New York. The basic allegations are that the pharmacy owner paid off customers (in other words, provided kickbacks) to fill fake prescriptions at his pharmacy. The pharmacy would then bill the prescriptions to Medicaid and Medicare. However, the government alleges that either prescriptions drugs were never actually given to the customers or that drugs of lesser value were given, and that it was a scheme to fraudulently get reimbursed by Medicaid and Medicare.
What is a kickback under federal law?
The prescription fraud lawyers at the Barone Defense Firm have provided a detailed discussion about the Federal Anti-Kickbacks Statute previously. The statute refers to a kickback payment as “remuneration.” Remuneration basically means cash or anything else in value. For example, in this case, the government alleges that the pharmacy owner gave customers coupons valued up to $5,000.00 in exchange for customers submitting fraudulent prescriptions.