Pharmacist sentenced for Medicare, Medicaid fraud
By HME News Staff
Updated 8:28 AM CDT, Fri October 25, 2024
LONDON, Ky. – Stephanie Collins, a former pharmacist, has been sentenced to 20 months for her role in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid by billing for medications that she never dispensed to her customers. According to her plea agreement, Collins operated as a registered pharmacist and operated Stephanie’s Down Home Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy located in Corbin, Ky. The pharmacy sought reimbursement from Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid for drugs and other medical products it dispensed to its customers. As part of the scheme to defraud these taxpayer-funded health care benefit programs, Collins used the pharmacy’s computer system to submit claims for payment for drugs that patients never picked up or received. Collins also submitted fraudulent claims for diabetes test strips, billing Kentucky Medicaid for more expensive test strips when she was actually giving her customers lower-cost test strips. In total, her false and fraudulent claims caused Kentucky Medicaid and Medicare to reimburse Collins’ pharmacy $730,055. Under federal law, Collins must serve 85% of her prison sentence. Upon her release from prison, she will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for two years. Collins was also ordered to pay $730,055 in restitution.
Comments