A former president of a pharmacy business pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme to charge Medicare and Tricare for expensive prescriptions obtained through kickbacks.
According to an Aug. 21 news release from the Justice Department, Elan Yaish was president of Apogee Bio-Pharm LLC, in Edison, N.J. Mr. Yaish and co-conspirators paid telemarketers kickbacks to target Medicare and Tricare beneficiaries and convince them to try expensive medications. These beneficiaries then obtained prescriptions from a telemedicine company, which paid physicians to approve the prescriptions, according to the Justice Department.
Mr. Yaish's pharmacies then billed Medicare and Tricare for the medications, costing Medicare and other federal health programs $32 million. The pharmacy paid a portion of reimbursements to the telemarketing company as kickbacks, according to the Justice Department.
Mr. Yaish faces up to five years in prison for his role in the scheme.