N.Y. AG announces $100,000 Medicaid settlement with pharmacy owner

NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a $100,000 settlement Wednesday with the co-owner of a pharmacy that allegedly overbilled taxpayers for the dispensation of compounded medications containing ketamine.

Under the terms of the settlement, Oleg Aronov, the co-owner of Comprehensive Pharmacy, will reimburse the state $100,000. Aronov also admitted to submitting erroneous claims to Medicaid indicating that the pharmacy dispensed medications with more ketamine than was actually present in medications dispensed to Medicaid patients.

Prior to closing in 2009, Comprehensive Pharmacy was an enrolled provider of health care services to Medicaid-covered New Yorkers. The pharmacy billed Medicaid as if ketamine was the entire weight of the ketamine-containing compounds when that was not the case. Comprehensive Pharmacy submitted tens of thousands of dollars in false claims for compounded medications with ketamine.

"Medical professionals who overbill Medicaid rob the program of important resources, and deprive many New Yorkers of essential services," Schneiderman said. "This settlement holds Mr. Aronov accountable for profiting at the expense of taxpayers. My office will remain committed to returning any funds misspent through violations of the Medicaid program."

Medicaid rules and regulations dictate that a provider may only be reimbursed for the amount of ketamine actually used in a compounded medication.