Smart Pharmacy

Jail time? Never.

Smart Pharmacy will enter a plea deal and just have to pay some of the money they stole back. The feds will consider it a victory and life will go on.

 

I don’t know. They were deliberately ripping off Medicare, Tricare and others. Sounds like criminal charges should be brought, unless the government wants to take it easy on them?

 

Sounds like the perfect place for Douchebag Dabkowski to be working.

 

Not very hard to prove criminal intent with these clowns.

 

This^

 

I used to work with Samantha and find those accusations very hard to believe. She was always quiet, but very polite and professional. I can’t find any record of her working in pain management, so I call BS on this.

 

Just google...

The United States of America vs Smart Pharmacy, Inc

 

BS? Here’s the link...

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/potmsearch/detail/submission/2120531/Samantha_C_Balotin

NEW HIRE HEALTH CARE OCTOBER 8, 2013
Samantha C. Balotin
Nurse Practitioner at Coastal Spine and Pain Center

Nurse Practitioner Samantha C. Balotin, Board Certified in family practice, joins Coastal Spine and Pain Center, treating patients specifically suffering from hormone and vitamin deficiencies. Balotin specializes in bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for men and women. Balotin started with Coastal Spine and Pain Center in September.

 

I work here. Bill and Greg told everyone that Tricare just cut them a big fat check. And that they are the ones suing the government, and they are 100% confident they will win.

Our billboard out front says “Proudly accepting Tricare”.

 

United States of America et al v. Smart Pharmacy, Inc. et al

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/27493675/United_States_of_America_et_al_v_Smart_Pharmacy,_Inc_et_al

 

And don’t forget this case as well...

The United States of America et al v. Smart Pharmacy, Inc. et al

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/27493674/The_United_States_of_America_et_al_v_Smart_Pharmacy,_Inc_et_al

 

Jacksonville pharmacy sued in federal court, accused of fraud.

Smart Pharmacy, and SP2 are both compounding pharmacies owned by local pharmacists Greg Balotin and Bill Scrogins.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/jacksonville-pharmacy-sued-in-federal-court-accused-of-fraud

 

United States Files False Claims Act Complaint Against Two Compounding Pharmacies and Their Owner For Submitting Inflated Claims and Improperly Waiving Patient Copayments

The Department of Justice announced today that the United States has filed a complaint in intervention against Smart Pharmacy Inc., and SP2 LLC, two compounding pharmacies located in Jacksonville, Florida. The complaint alleges that the pharmacies improperly included the drug aripiprazole, an atypical antipsychotic drug, in compounded pain creams in order to boost the pharmacies’ reimbursement for the prescriptions and that the pharmacies routinely waived patient copayment obligations. The government has also brought claims against Gregory Balotin, a co-owner of the pharmacies, for his involvement in the alleged schemes.

Aripiprazole, which is sold under the brand names Abilify, Abilify Maintena, and Aristada, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat a number of psychological conditions such as schizophrenia, Tourette’s disorder, irritability associated with autistic disorder, and manic and mixed episodes associated with Bipolar I. The complaint alleges that the defendants crushed pills of aripiprazole and included them in compounded creams used topically for pain treatment while knowing that there was not an adequate clinical basis for adding aripiprazole to the compound. The complaint alleges that, by including the drug in the pain creams, the defendants substantially increased their reimbursement for prescriptions for the creams from Medicare Part D and TRICARE, the federal health care program for active duty military personnel, retirees, and their families.

The government’s complaint also alleges that the defendants improperly waived patient copayments. While copayments may be waived in certain unique circumstances, such as on the basis of financial hardship of the patient, the defendants are alleged to have routinely waived patient copayments without regard for whether a waiver was warranted.

“The Department of Justice will hold accountable health care providers that manipulate the system to improperly enrich themselves at the taxpayers’ expense,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “Dispensing drugs for unproven uses and improperly waiving patient copayments erodes public trust in the health care system and increases the costs borne by federal health care programs.”

“This complaint addresses alarming misconduct by some of the largest compounding pharmacies in our district,” said U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Maria Chapa Lopez. “We intend to hold providers accountable under the False Claims Act when they put their own economic interests ahead of the medical needs of federal health program beneficiaries.”

“Fraud in government health programs may result in harm to vulnerable populations and needless taxpayer expense,” said Shimon R. Richmond, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “All available resources will be used to aggressively investigate these allegations.”

“I applaud the Department of Justice for its continued efforts to hold compounding pharmacies accountable to the American taxpayer,” said Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, director of the Defense Health Agency. “The efforts of the Department of Justice safeguard the health care benefit for our service members, veterans and their families. The Defense Health Agency will continue working closely with the Justice Department, and other state and federal agencies to investigate all those who participated in fraudulent practices.”

“It is of utmost importance to protect the integrity of DoD programs by rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse that diverts and wastes precious American taxpayer dollars intended for our Warfighters, and their families. Allegations of providers unjustly enriching themselves will be met with a coordinated effort amongst all affected agencies to hold those accountable,” said the Defense Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent in Charge Cynthia Bruce, Southeast Field Office.

The lawsuits, United States ex rel. Sanchez v. Smart Pharmacy, Inc., et al., No. 14-cv-1453 (M.D. Fla.), and United States ex rel. Kohli v. Smart Pharmacy, Inc., et al., No. 16-cv-387 (M.D. Fla.), were originally filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida by Amy Sanchez and Ashok Kohli, two former employees of Smart Pharmacy. The lawsuits were filed under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private parties to sue on behalf of the United States for false claims and to receive a share of any recovery. The Act permits the United States to intervene in such lawsuits, as the United States has done in these cases.

This matter is being handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, with assistance from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and the Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General.


https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-files-false-claims-act-complaint-against-two-compounding-pharmacies-and-their

 

Friday June 21 - was a good day for justice! Both owners have stolen millions of dollars, waved copays, up billed, auto shipped prescriptions in 90 day supplies without patient consent, marketed to prescribers in VERY unethical ways with gifts, comps, etc.
I just hope the Government does not just give them a slap on the hand and tells them to pay a few million dollars and then they move on to the next case. Smart Pharmacy needs to be shut down, and the FL Board of Pharmacy needs to take away their licenses.
They have stolen in over $50 to 100 million+ dollars from American Tax Payers... The current employees should also be held responsible, because the two RATS cant create this much FRAUD by themselves, they have help! The sales force, pharmacist, pharmacy techs, and phone reps all played a part in this massive FRAUD. Just because they give you ice cream parties and take you to top golf does not make them good people.
The Government just need to put a little bit of pressure/heat/treat of jail time to some of the prescribers and they will spill all the "beans"
Have a nice day you RATS!

 

Plead down to misdemeanor and pay small fine. No big deal. You know little to nothing about the legal system. Not guilty!!

 

I work here and can tell you for a FACT that Bill and Greg are not worried in the slightest. They laugh when talking about this case. A fine means nothing to them. They’ve outsmarted the system! Pun intended

 

The facts in the case are very simple:

Fact: Smart Pharmacy used Abilify that they were not supposed to use in pts over a set age.

Fact: The Government will ask for purchase orders from wholesalers that will show ingredients were purchased. Records/logs will show that ingredients were used in the compound. Techs and Pharmacist interviews will conform that ingredients were used. Billing of the RX will prove ingredient was used.

Fact: Abilify and other actives are only being used to increase billing amount. Its going to be very hard for Smart to prove the ingredients have shown any clinical efficacy. Do they have research based clinical studies supporting the use of ALL the ingredients used for the condition that the Dr. was treating….Answer is NO, then that calm will be voided. Antipsychotics are not used for pain control the last time I checked!

Fact: Waving a copayment will make the whole clam void and all the money that that clam will have to be paid back, up to 3 times the original amount billed. So a $5,000 clam can now cost them up to $15,000! The Government will go back as far as the can and find out how many co-pays have been waved and never collected.

Fact: the US Government does not bring charges if they don’t think they can win….

Fact: 90% of all cases brought by the US Government they win (if the go to trial). The Government will give the option…pay back tens of millions or face a trial that will go on forever and cost in the millions to defend and most likely loose and possibly go to jail and end up paying back the money.

So….the laughing is just a front for the staff. I bet they are both taking sleeping pills because the cant sleep due to the stress and worrying about jail time and all the money they will have to pay back. This will take one to two years to play out. That’s a lot of stress to deal with for a long time.

PS….remember the whistleblowers will just make the Governments job of investigating that much easier. They will tell the Government WHO did WHAT, WHEN and HOW….pressure will be placed on lower level employees and all the crimes will be exposed. Employees should be scared...

 

Greg and Bill should be worried, I assure you.

As a former secondary wholesale consultant, we sold tons of product to Smart and SP2 - including aripiprazole. I've been in touch with investigators regarding the sales of various other prescription medications. Without hesitation, I turned over pages of emails, text messages and invoices for further review.

This is no laughing matter and the overwhelming evidence indicates that a "slap on the wrist" is an unlikely outcome.

 

Fact- Paying these fines has always been factored into the operating costs of Smart Pharmacy. Unless criminal charges are brought, they could care less about these lawsuits. It’s just the cost of doing business for them.