Human Medications, Human Drugs, Animal Medications, Animal Drugs, Pharmacy law, Pharmaceutical law, Compounding law, Sterile and Non Sterile Compounding 797 Compliance, Veterinary law, Veterinary Compounding Law; Health Care; Awareness of all Types of Compounding Issues; Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), Outsourcing Facilities Food and Drug Administration and Compliance Issues
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
| Witness: Doctor prescribed meds without evaluating patients
The indictment also says he falsified patient records by indicating that he examined individuals before prescribing them compounded medications. The Food Drug and Administration describes compounding as a combination, mix or alteration of ingredients of a drug to make a medication to fit the needs ...
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| Witness: Doctor prescribed meds without evaluating patients
The indictment also says he falsified patient records by indicating that he examined individuals before prescribing them compounded medications. The Food Drug and Administration describes compounding as a combination, mix or alteration of ingredients of a drug to make a medication to fit the needs ...
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| Witness: Doctor prescribed meds without meeting patients
The indictment also says he falsified patient records by indicating that he examined individuals before prescribing them compounded medications. Back on Oct. 18, 2017, Diaz, was charged for his role in the scheme. He is charged with 16 counts including one count of conspiracy to commit health care ...
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| Witness testifies Coast doctor wrote prescriptions without examining patients
His father also recruited drug reps to help sell the compounding creams, according to testimony. McCleary said his father was paid a 6 percent commission for whatever the drug reps sold. He said both he and his parents received the compounded creams and pills, accumulating “two to three milk ...
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Tuesday, February 27, 2018
| 02/16/2018 | Alchymars ICM SM Private Limited | Center for Drug Evaluation and Research | CGMP/Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API)/Adulterated | Not Issued |
| 02/14/2018 | Nowcos Co., Ltd | Center for Drug Evaluation and Research | CGMP/Finished Pharmaceuticals/Adulterated | Not Issued |
| 02/07/2018 | Shanghai Weierya Daily Chemicals Factory | Center for Drug Evaluation and Research | CGMP/Finished Pharmaceuticals/Adulterated | Not Issued * |
| 07/18/2017 | Terra Biological LLC | Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition | Unapproved New Drugs/Misbranded | 09/27/2017 |
US District Court filing connects W.Va. pharmacy to Pike oxycodone ...
Appalachian News-Express-16 hours ago
An owner and operator of a West Virginia pharmacy was charged last week following the returning of a one-count indictment by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Pikeville. Jackson Noel, aka Jackie Noel, operator of Buffalo Drug Inc. in Buffalo, West Virginia, was indicted on one count of knowingly and intentionally ...
Iowa pharmacy tech pleads guilty to injecting himself with hospital's ...
Mason City Globe Gazette-9 hours ago
DES MOINES | A former pharmacy technician has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to tampering with fentanyl by using a syringe to replace the painkiller with another solution. According to the plea agreement, between Sept. 7, 2016 and Oct. 2, 2016, Victor Van Cleave, 29, was employed as a pharmacy technician at Iowa ...
Tricare for Life Users React to Pharmacy Fee Increase
Military.com-9 hours ago
Over the last day, I have heard via email from a stream of Tricare for Life users, many of whom say they weren't just surprised by a Feb. 1 Tricare pharmacy co-pay increase, they were blindsided. While costs for medications received at a retail
'No proof' Coast doctor involved in scheme to defraud TRICARE ...
The Sun Herald-11 hours ago
... veterans and their family members. Diaz also allegedly submitted false patient records for an audit for TRICARE and indicated he had examined his patients before prescribing them compounded medications. Compounded drugs are the mixture of two or more drugs by a pharmacist to meet a patient's specific needs.
Must Read!! Gulfport doctor first to stand trial in compound pharmacy scheme Hattiesburg American
| Gulfport doctor first to stand trial in compound pharmacy scheme
Diaz also allegedly submitted false patient records for an audit for TRICARE and indicated he had examined his patients before prescribing them compounded medications. Related: Nurse practitioner indicted in compound pharmacy scheme. More: Gulfport doctor indicted in compounding pharmacy ...
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Monday, February 26, 2018
| 02/02/2018 | 3007003644 | Village Compounding Pharmacy | FMD-145 Letter | TX | Producer of Sterile Drug Products | 02/21/2018 |
| 02/23/2018 | Progressive Laboratories, Xenesta | Dietary supplements | Undeclared milk | Progressive Laboratories, Inc. |
With legislative session more than half over, most health-related bills ...
User-generated content (press release)-18 hours ago
Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, which would put the state back in charge of its Medicaid drug program, came about because he said pharmacy-benefit managers hired by the state's Medicaid managed-care organizations, are not paying Kentuc
Tighter laws urged for paracetamol
Australian Journal of Pharmacy (blog)-16 hours ago
Up to one in three pharmacies may not be offering adequate safety advice and counselling during such transactions, the investigation concluded. The paracetamol strategy involved non-pharmacy outlets including Poundland, a variety chain store, which was offering three 16-tablet packs of paracetamol for £1 (AUD$1.78).
Is the Secret to Solving the Opioid Crisis More Opioids?
Pacific Standard-5 hours ago
Bottles of Buprenorphine are seen in a pharmacy in Boca Raton, Florida. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images). America continues to succumb to its opioid epidemic, with official estimates tallying 116 overdose deaths every day. Opioids now kill more than 42,000 people in the United States each year—a figure that represents ...
Clarifying regulations could address some doctor concerns with new ...
The Nevada Independent-13 hours ago
But to what extent that clarification can or should be codified into state regulations will be up to the Board of Pharmacy, which will discuss the matter at a meeting early next month. The new law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, requires prescribers to obtain and review a patient's medical records (or make a “good faith effort”
How Albertsons Paves A Path For Amazon To Buy Express Scripts
Forbes-10 hours ago
Albertsons and Rite Aid both fill prescriptions, so it makes sense the grocery store chain that also owns pharmacies would be interested in buying a drugstore operator. But Albertsons is also an employer with 280,000 employees from supermarkets that use a Rite Aid-owned pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) for worker
Pharmacists Fight for Reimbursement Rates
KNWA-18 hours ago
BELLA VISTA, Ark. - Some pharmacies across the state are losing money due to what they consider to be a lack of regulation between insurance providers and drug manufacturers. Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson called a special session of the Arkansas legislature to address the concern of low reimbursement rates to ...
Bathurst pharmacist to pay $17000 for texting private information ...
CBC.ca-4 hours ago
A Bathurst pharmacist who was caught texting information about a patient to someone outside that person's "circle of care" has been sanctioned for professional misconduct. Pharmacist Diane Roy was suspended Oct. 3, 2016, from her job at the Bathurst Jean Coutu drugstore after the allegation surfaced. Then, on Nov.
Coordinating prescription refills in Mississippi is about to get easier
Jackson Clarion Ledger-Feb 25, 2018
For some patients in Mississippi, being prescribed several medications means three, four or more trips to the pharmacy each month. That could change under a bill that legislators sent to the governor last week. The legislation would require insurance companies to cover partial subscription refills for the purpose of ..
Express Scripts among pharmacy benefit firms included in opioid ...
St. Louis Business Journal-10 hours ago
Express Scripts is one of five pharmacy benefits management firms that have been named as defendants in a South Texas lawsuit about the opioid crisis. The suit, filed in Webb County, Texas, in January, was absorbed earlier this month into an opioid lawsuit in Ohio that is aggregating related claims from across the country ...
Pharmacy benefits managers in crosshairs of latest opioid lawsuit
BenefitsPro-3 hours ago
Pharmacy benefit managers are being targeted by a lawsuit filed by Webb County, in South Texas, charging that PBMs enabled the opioid crisis and profited from the sale of the drugs that fueled it, according to a lawyer who represents the county. Stat News reports that not only does this suit, filed in January, target PBM
Patient Care America Facing Charges Related To Kickback Scheme ...
Morningside Maryland Site (press release) (blog)-9 hours ago
Florida – The United States has filed a complaint in intervention against Diabetic Care Rx LLC d/b/a Patient Care America (PCA), a compounding pharmacy located in Pompano Beach, Florida, alleging that the pharmacy paid illegal kickbacks to induce prescriptions for compounded drugs reimbursed by TRICARE, the ...
US Supreme Court rejects challenge to Texas lethal injection drugs
Texas Tribune-8 hours ago
The lawsuit dated back to 2013, when multiple death row inmates sued the Texas prison system claiming its lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional, in part based on the drugs used in executions. Texas uses pentobarbital compounded at a pharmacy in secret to put inmates to death. The inmates claimed that the lack of ...
Prescription for Fraud: Government Enforcement Activities in ...
The National Law Review-59 minutes ago
On October 18, 2017, a Mississippi physician was charged with health care fraud for writing prescriptions for medically unnecessary compounded medications. This is the latest – though certainly not the last – example of the Department of Justice's efforts to combat fraud within the TRICARE program. From California to ...
Pew, NABP Report: State Alignment With Compounding Best ...
Inside Health Policy-3 hours ago
The Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy in a report released Monday (Feb. 26) praise states for implementing what they believe are best practices in overseeing compounding, but they say more can be done to increase inspection frequency and develop a risk-based inspection ...
United States Files False Claims Act Complaint Against Compounding ...
17 hours ago - Los Angeles, California - The United States has filed a complaint in intervention against Diabetic Care Rx LLC d/b/a Patient Care America (PCA), a compounding pharmacy located in Pompano Beach, Florida, alleging that the pharmacy paid illegal kickbacks to induce prescriptions forcompounded drugs reimbursed by ...
Pharmacist tied to 2012 meningitis outbreak must forfeit $175,000
1 hour ago - By Nate RaymondA federal judge has ruled that a Massachusetts pharmacistconvicted on racketeering and fraud charges must forfeit$175000 he earned while working at a compoundingpharmacylinked to a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.But U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston on Fridayrejected ...
Regulating Drug Compounders: Opportunities Remain on Inspections ...
6 hours ago - In the five years since contaminated injections compounded at a Massachusetts pharmacy led to more than 70 deaths, sterile compounding oversight laws and rules have been strengthened, but there is more room for inspections and oversight at the state level, a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the National ...
High Importance: State oversight of compounding pharmacies is better, but inspections are lagging STAT
| State oversight of compounding pharmacies is better, but inspections are lagging
Specifically, 32 states now require compounding pharmacies that make sterile medicines, which are injected or infused into the body, to fully comply with recognized quality standards, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts, a public policy organization. Two years ago, Pew conducted a similar analysis ...
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Sunday, February 25, 2018
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Must Read!!
epartment of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 23, 2018
United States Files False Claims Act Complaint Against Compounding Pharmacy, Private Equity Firm, and Two Pharmacy Executives Alleging Payment of Kickbacks
The United States has filed a complaint in intervention against Diabetic Care Rx LLC d/b/a Patient Care America (PCA), a compounding pharmacy located in Pompano Beach, Florida, alleging that the pharmacy paid illegal kickbacks to induce prescriptions for compounded drugs reimbursed by TRICARE, the Department of Justice announced today. The government has also brought claims against Patrick Smith and Matthew Smith, two pharmacy executives, and Riordan, Lewis & Haden Inc. (RLH), a private equity firm based in Los Angeles, California, which manages both the pharmacy and the private equity fund that owns the pharmacy, for their involvement in the alleged kickback scheme.
TRICARE is a federally-funded health care program for military personnel and their families. The government alleges that the Defendants paid kickbacks to marketing companies to target TRICARE beneficiaries for prescriptions for compounded pain creams, scar creams, and vitamins, without regard to the patients’ medical needs. According to the complaint, the compound formulas were manipulated by the Defendants and the marketers to ensure the highest possible reimbursement from TRICARE. The Defendants and marketers allegedly paid telemedicine doctors to prescribe the creams and vitamins without seeing the patients, and sometimes paid the patients themselves to accept the prescriptions. The scheme generated tens of millions of dollars in reimbursements from TRICARE in a matter of months, according to the complaint, which alleges that the Defendants and marketers split the profits from the scheme.
“The Department of Justice is determined to hold accountable health care providers that improperly use taxpayer funded health care programs to enrich themselves,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Chad A. Readler. “Kickback schemes corrupt the health care system and damage the public trust.”
“Providers and marketers that engage in kickback schemes drive up the cost of health care because they focus on their own bottom line instead of what is in the best interest of patients,” said Executive Assistant Randy Hummel of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. “We will hold pharmacies, and those companies that manage them, responsible for using kickbacks to line their pockets at the expense of taxpayers and federal health care beneficiaries.”
“The Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) is committed to protecting the integrity of TRICARE, the military health care program that provides critical medical care and services to Department of Defense beneficiaries,” said Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin, of the Southeast Field Office. “In partnership with DOJ and other law enforcement agencies, DCIS continues to aggressively investigate fraud and corruption to preserve and recover precious taxpayer dollars to best serve the needs of our warfighters, their family members, and military retirees.”
The lawsuit, United States ex rel. Medrano and Lopez v. Diabetic Care Rx, LLC dba Patient Care America, et al., No. 15-CV-62617 (S.D. Fla.), was originally filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida by Marisela Medrano and Ada Lopez, two former employees of PCA. The lawsuit was filed under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private parties to sue for false claims against of the United States and to receive a share of any recovery. The Act permits the United States to intervene in such lawsuits, as the United States has done in this case.
This matter was investigated by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit.
The claims asserted against the defendants are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.
Topic(s):
False Claims Act
Health Care Fraud
Component(s):
Press Release Number:
18-233
Hidden Profits In the Prescription Drug Supply Chain
Wall Street Journal-14 hours ago
Depending on how you look at them, pharmacy-benefit managers are either low-margin middlemen that fight to reduce drug costs, or highly profitable intermediaries that take a cut of every prescription and earn more when drug prices rise. Pharmacy-benefit managers are hired by businesses such as insurers that pay f
Why Your Pharmacist Can't Tell You That $20 Prescription Could ...
New York Times-12 hours ago
Steven F. Moore, whose family owns Condo Pharmacy in Plattsburgh, N.Y., said the restrictions on pharmacists' ability to discuss prices with patients were “incredibly frustrating.” Mr. Moore offered this example of how the pricing works: A consumer filling a prescription for a drug to treat diabetes or high blood pressure may ...
US charges pharmacy with defrauding military health care program
Fairfield Daily Republic-6 hours ago
The Justice Department has accused a Florida pharmacy and the Los Angeles private equity firm that owns it of bilking a military health care program out of millions of dollars by pushing unneeded vitamins and creams. In a filing in federal court in Miami, federal prosecutors said compounding pharmacy Patient Care ...
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