LONDON, Ky. – A Corbin, Ky., woman and former pharmacist, Stephanie Collins, 57, has been sentenced to 20 months, by U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom, for her role in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid, by billing for medications that she never dispensed to her customers.   According to her plea agreement, Collins operated as a registered pharmacist and operated Stephanie’s Down Home Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy located in Corbin.  The pharmacy sought reimbursement from Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid for the drugs and other medical products it dispensed to its customers.  As part of the scheme to defraud these taxpayer-funded health care benefit programs, Collins used the pharmacy’s computer system to submit claims for payment for prescription drugs that patients never picked up or otherwise received.  Collins also submitted fraudulent claims for diabetic test strips, billing Kentucky Medicaid for more expensive test strips when she was actually giving her customers lower-cost test strips.  In total, her false and fraudulent claims caused Kentucky Medicaid and Medicare to reimburse Collins’ pharmacy $730,055.78. Under federal law, Collins must serve 85 percent of her prison sentence.  Upon her release from prison, she will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for two years. The Court also ordered Collins to pay $730,055.78 in restitution. Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Erek Davodowich, Acting Special Agent in Charge, DEA, Louisville Field Division; Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation; and Tamala E. Miles, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), jointly announced the sentence. The case was investigated by the DEA, IRS, HHS-OIG; the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of Inspector General, Drug Enforcement and Professional Practices Branch; and the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Smith prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.                               — END — The post Former Eastern Kentucky Pharamacist Sentenced for Healthcare Fraud appeared first on The Lexington Times.