The owner of a pharmacy in Pensacola, Fla., was convicted of conspiring to fill illegitimate prescriptions and fraudulently billing Tricare for $4.8 million worth of prescription drugs, the U.S. Justice Department said March 12.
Andrew Fisher, who owned Physician Specialty Pharmacy, agreed to fill prescriptions from a physician's office in Georgia, knowing the patients had never seen that physician and that the prescriptions were false, the Justice Department said.
Evidence showed that between October 2014 and December 2015, Mr. Fisher defrauded the federal healthcare program for uniformed U.S. service members, retirees and their families of more than $4.8 million and laundered the money he made from the scheme.
He also directed his pharmacists to use ingredient formulations for drugs that would maximize payments from Tricare without regard for what was best for the patient, the Justice Department said. He waived copays so patients wouldn't decline the drugs because of their cost.
Mr. Fisher was convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud as well as conspiracy to commit money-laundering. He faces up to 30 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced May 22.
Read the full news release here.