PHARMACY SERVICES
DA TE
ENTITY
FCA ALLEGATIONS
AMOUNT
Pharmacy and its pharmacist co-owner agreed to pay a $2.9 million consent judgment to resolve civil FCA and CSA allegations that they: (1) dispensed controlled substances, including hydrocodone, without prescriptions; and (2) dispensed generic versions of drugs but billed Medicare for the brand-name drugs. As part of the resolution, both the pharmacy and Jeffrey Eshelman are permanently prohibited from dispensing controlled substances and Eshelman is excluded from federal healthcare programs for nine years. 52 Long-term care pharmacy operator agreed to pay $2.75 million to resolve FCA and CSA allegations that it billed Medicare for fraudulently requested emergency refills of Schedule II controlled substances when the refills were not emergencies and no written prescriptions were ever obtained and also submitted claims to Medicare Part D after the same claims had already been reimbursed through claims paid to the long-term care facilities under Medicare Part A. 53 Pharmacy chain owner, his consulting company, affiliated pharmacies and an employed pharmacist, Mark Zulewski, agreed to pay $250,000 to resolve FCA allegations that Kaushal Patel hired Zulewski to work in his pharmacies with knowledge Zulewski had been convicted of a felony controlled substance offense and was excluded from participating in federal healthcare programs as a result. The government also alleged that despite this knowledge, Zulewski was granted broad administrative authority, including filling prescriptions as needed when pharmacists-in-charge at certain pharmacies were unavailable. 54 Owners of a now-defunct compounding pharmacy agreed to pay more than $1 million to resolve FCA allegations that they submitted claims to TRICARE tainted by payments to physicians and marketers intended to induce referrals and compounded drug prescriptions. The settlement also resolves allegations that the owners misrepresented their joint ownership of the pharmacy to conceal the fact that David Tsui was excluded from participating in federal healthcare programs. 55
McElroy Pharmacy, Inc.; Jeffrey Eshelman
2/25/2021
$2.9 million
AlixaRx, LLC
$2.75 million
5/11/2021
Kass Management & Consulting, LLC; Belmont Pharmacy, LLC; Bensalem Pharmacy; Big Oak Pharmacy, Inc.; Doylestown Drugs, LLC; Family One Pharmacy; Penndel Drugs, Inc.; Penlar Pharmacy; Medical Plaza Pharmacy; Kaushal Patel; Mark Zulewski
8/5/2021
$250,000
David Tsui; Lois Tsui
8/9/2021
$1.083 million
52 https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/lancaster-county-pharmacy-and-pharmacist-agree-resolve-civil-allegations-dispensing. 53 https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/alixarx-llc-agrees-pay-275-million-resolve-allegations-it-improperly-dispensed. 54 https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/pharmacy-owner-and-pharmacist-employee-previously-convicted-felon-agree-pay-250000. 55 https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdnc/pr/former-owners-hillsborough-compounding-pharmacy-pay-108299194-resolve-false-claims-act.
NOTABLE SETTLEMENTS BASS, BERRY & SIMS | 55
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