Ten workers from the Global Compounding Pharmacy in Alabama, including a nurse practitioner, pharmacist and the pharmacy's owners, were charged in connection to a $200 million prescription drug fraud investigation, according to a WSFA news report.
The indictment accuses the defendants of fraudulently billing healthcare insurers and prescription drug administrators more than $200 million for drugs that patients didn't need.
In one instance, prosecutors charge that the workers' fraudulent conduct resulted in a prescription administrator paying over $29,000 for a tube of cream to treat general wounds. In another instance, the pharmacy billed insurers for creams used by females that were issued to male patients, according to the charges.
"Motivated by greed, the defendants executed a brazen healthcare fraud conspiracy and scheme that cost health insurance plans, including those that protect the elderly, disabled, military members and veterans, millions of dollars," Attorney Jay Town of the U.S. Justice Department said, according to WSFA. "Their scheme deprived health insurance plans of money that could have gone to assist patients with real medical needs."