Lincoln druggist indicted in $2.4M Medicaid fraud probe

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.livewellnebraska.com/consumer/lincoln-druggist-indicted-in-m-medicaid-fraud-probe/article_a670cfe7-ac94-5e5e-a869-98e53b3ffd3d.html

Posted: Friday, April 24, 2015 1:00 am
By Alissa Skelton / World-Herald staff writer

A federal grand jury has indicted a Lincoln pharmacist accused of scheming to defraud Nebraska’s Medicaid program of $2.4 million.

A criminal indictment filed this week charging Scott Tran with health care fraud said he filed nearly 400 false Medicaid claims for reimbursement between May 2009 and February 2015. Tran submitted hundreds of claims to Medicaid for a prescription drug used to treat cystic fibrosis, but he did not give the medication to patients, prosecutor Alan Everett said in the indictment.

Tran’s claims said six physicians signed off on prescriptions for 16 minors, but an investigation revealed that the physicians did not prescribe the drug, FBI Agent Michael Maseth said in an affidavit.

During interviews with law enforcement, the doctors denied prescribing cystic fibrosis medication to any of the patients, Maseth said, and none of the 16 children has been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Many of the fraudulent claims were filed on behalf of children of Tran’s customers, court documents show.

FULL story at link.