Two Pennsylvania pharmacists charged with fraud

The former owner of a former pharmacy near Pittsburgh and one of his workers are charged with submitting $1 million in bogus prescription claims to Medicaid and private insurance companies.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett on April 28 announced that agents from the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud and Insurance Fraud Sections have filed criminal charges against two pharmacists accused of conspiring to fabricate insurance claims for nearly $1 million worth of prescription drugs never dispensed.

Corbett identified the defendants as William M. Sadowski, 43, of Allegheny County and Eric J. Miladin, 43, of Beaver County. Sadowski is a licensed pharmacist and the former co-owner of Servatus Pharmacy, located in the North Hills section of Pittsburgh. Miladin was a pharmacist employed at Servatus Pharmacy.

According to the criminal complaint, Sadowski conspired to submit false claims to the Pennsylvania Medicaid program and private health insurance companies for high-cost medications that were supposedly given to patients at the Allegheny Valley School, a facility for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Sadowski allegedly submitted more than $645,000 worth of insurance claims for medications that were not prescribed by any doctors and were not dispensed to any residents at Allegheny Valley School locations in Pittsburgh or Harrisburg.

Sadowski also allegedly submitted more than $180,000 in false claims to Highmark Insurance Co., using the names of employees who worked for businesses in the area where the pharmacy was located.

The investigation determined that these medications were never authorized by any doctors and that the drugs were not provided to any patients. Sadowski and Miladin also allegedly conspired to use the names of inmates at the Beaver County Jail to submit false claims for drug rebates, using various coupons provided by prescription drug manufacturers.

At the time, the Servatus Pharmacy was contracted to provide emergency medication to the Beaver County Jail. Corbett said that Sadowski and Miladin are accused of creating fictitious prescriptions and submitting claims for more than $155,000 in rebates for drugs such as Levitra, an erectile dysfunction medication; Marinol, a synthetic marijuana; Restoril, a narcotic sleep medication and Pexeva, an expensive antidepressant.