Former Kentucky pharmacy owner admits Medicare fraud, to repay more than $700,000
The former owner of a Kentucky pharmacy has admitted charging government health programs for drugs the business didn’t actually dispense, and agreed to repay $730,055.
Stephanie Collins agreed to repay $730,055 to Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid.
Collins pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of executing a scheme to defraud a health care program.
Collins, a pharmacist, owned Stephanie’s Down Home Pharmacy in Corbin.
Between June 2014 and June 2020, the pharmacy billed Medicare and Medicaid for prescriptions that people didn’t pick up or receive, according to her plea agreement.
The pharmacy received a total of $627,614 for those fraudulent claims, according to the plea agreement.
The pharmacy also submitted claims to the Kentucky Medicaid program for providing diabetes test strips to patients that cost less than the ones the business billed for, pumping up its profit.
Medicaid reimbursed the pharmacy a total of $102,441 for those false claims, the plea agreement said.
The News Journal newspaper in Corbin reported in September 2020 that Collins’ pharmacy closed.
In addition to making restitution to Medicare and Medicaid, Collins agreed to give up her Kentucky pharmacy license and her registration with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The charge in her case is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Collins pleaded guilty June 17 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward B. Atkins, who recommended U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom accept the plea.
