A federal jury convicted a Virginia pharmacist Feb. 9 for his role in a prescription drug scheme that aimed to defraud Medicare of $1 million.
Alongside co-conspirators, Ronald Beasley II, PharmD, the 33-year-old pharmacist in charge at NH Pharma in Lake Mary, Fla., "billed Medicare for expensive compound drug creams that they never actually purchased or dispensed," according to a Justice Department news release.
They then provided an inexpensive drug cream to Medicare patients and pocketed the fraudulent profits that surpassed $1 million, the release said. HHS' Office of Inspector General and the FBI investigated the case.
For one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and three counts of healthcare fraud, Dr. Beasley faces up to 10 years in prison.