Two Florida pharmacies will pay $7.4M to settle allegations they overcharged Medicare and Tricare for medically unnecessary compounded medications.
According to a June 15 news release from the Justice Department, Jacksonville-based Smart Pharmacy, SP2 and owner Gregory Balotin agreed to pay the settlement.
The Justice Department alleges Mr. Balotin's pharmacies added aripiprazole, an oral psychiatric medication, to topical pain treatments when there was no clinical benefit to doing so to increase the reimbursements it received from Medicare Part D and Tricare.
The pharmacies also waived customers' copays to persuade them to accept the compounded drugs, the department alleges.
There is no determination of liability as a part of the settlement.