Philly Pharmacies To Pay $3.5 After False Medicare Billing Accusations

PHILADELPHIA — Two Philadelphia pharmacies will pay more than $3.5 million to the federal government after they were accused of billing Medicare for medications they didn't actually dispense.

United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said that Future Pharmacy, Inc. (“Future”) and JJ Pharmacy, Inc. (“JJ”) — as well astheir respective owners Arthur Kilimnik, Alexander Ferman, Mikhail Ferman, Leonard Kilimnik, and Aleksey Orlov — have agreed to pay over $3.5 million to the federal government to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare for prescription medications that were not actually dispensed.

From Jan. 1, 2012, to Dec. 31, 2016, these medications included but were not limited to Lidocaine, Lidoderm, Advair Diskus, Nexium, Creon, and Abilify.

Future Pharmacy and JJ Pharmacy have also agreed to a five-year federal healthcare exclusion, which will prohibit them from receiving payments from any federally funded health care insurer such as Medicare during the that time.

The pharmacies have also surrendered their DEA Certificates of Registration and ceased operations.

As a majority owner of Future Pharmacy and minority owner of JJ Pharmacy, and a pharmacist, the government also contends that Arthur Kilimnik violated the Controlled Substances Act by: (a) failing to maintain complete and accurate records; (b) failing to separate Future Pharmacy’s Schedule II biennial inventory from its Schedule III-V biennial inventory; (c) failing to take appropriate inventory within a two-year period following Future Pharmacy’s last inventory; (d) receiving Schedule II supply from another company, Future Medical, and filling prescriptions generated by Future Medical without proper documentation; and (e) improperly allowing another individual to use Kilimnik’s Controlled Substance Ordering System username and password to order Schedule II controlled substances.

The settled civil claims are allegations only.

There has been no determination of civil liability.