Houston pharmacist admits to $5 million healthcare fraud, paid kickbacks for referrals
Nermin Awad El-Hadik colluded with a Texas clinic manager for referrals, many who required pricey compound medications.
Houston pharmacy owner Nermin Awad El-Hadik last week pleaded guilty to a $5 million fraud in which he paid a clinic operator kickbacks in exchange for referrals of federally insured clients needing prescription drugs.
El-Hadik, who owns Hope Pharmacy, has agreed to pay $5 million in restitution and faces up to five years in prison, according to U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin.
The pharmacist admitted to paying the kickbacks to Garry Wayne Craighead, a chiropractor who ran eight Texas clinics that were largely reimbursed by healthcare benefit programs of the U.S. Department of Labor. In addition to paying for referrals, El-Hadik led Craighead to influence other physicians to prescribe pricey compounded medications.
[Also: Running list of notable 2016 healthcare frauds]
Medicare Part D spending on these medications, which pharmacists create by combining drugs into a unique medicine based on the patient's needs, skyrocketed in 2015 by 56 percent. Spending on these jumped even higher among beneficiaries of the U.S. Department of Labor's workers compensation program, which has put the U.S. government on alert about potential frauds tied to these non-commercial medications.
Craighead pleaded guilty in December 2015 to charges related to the fraud. In June he was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and fined $17 million.
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