On Wednesday, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced that individuals and entities linked to Med-Fast Pharmacy Inc. had agreed to resolve criminal and civil charges. The charges are associated with the company’s improper submission of claims to the Medicaid and Medicare programs. In relation to the global resolution, former Vice President of Store Operations, 47-year-old Gino Cordisco or Mars, Pennsylvania, will be charged with a single count of conspiracy in connection with his participation in the scheme to fill prescriptions for nursing homes with recycled unused drugs that were commingled with drugs stocks on hand.
Iserve Technologies Inc., which is co-located and operated out of Med-Fast, has been charged with the same. The criminal charges come after 37-year-old Correna Pfeiffer of Monaca, Pennsylvania pled guilty. Pfeiffer previously served as the manager of the Med-Fast Institutional Pharmacy. Med-Fast Pharmacy Inc., its owner, Douglas Kaleugher, and other entities have agreed to pay $2,666,300 to the United States to settle False Claims Act allegations.
The settlement also resolves two whistleblower lawsuits filed in federal court in Pittsburgh. The claims contended that Med-Fast violated the act by distributing and submitting Medicare claims for medication that had been recycled for long-term care facilities or differed from medications identified in the claims to the United States.
The allegations also suggested that Med-Fast submitted claims to Pennsylvania Medicaid and Medicare seeking reimbursement for retail-packaged diabetes testing strips, despite providing patients with cheaper mail-order versions of the strips.