HARRISBURG – Attorney General Michelle Henry today announced that Philadelphia-based Aramingo Pharmacy pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud after an investigation uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent claims to health insurance providers, including Medicaid.
Aramingo Pharmacy, through its owner Ahmed Bachir, must pay $573,992 in restitution to health insurers and $300,866 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Human Services-Bureau of Program Integrity – for a total of $874,858 in restitution.
Bachir, 32, will also have his pharmacist licence suspended for five years and will be excluded as a Medicaid provider for the same period.
“Pharmacists are entrusted with the critical task of responsibly providing medications that treat illness and keep Pennsylvanians healthy,” Attorney General Henry said. “In this case, Aramingo Pharmacy was more concerned with personal greed than patient care and used its authority to take advantage of health insurance providers. Any company or individual who attempts to defraud our health care system will be held accountable.”
A grand jury investigation found that Bachir and the pharmacy billed Medicaid and other providers for prescription drugs that were never provided to patients. From June 2019 to June 2021, Aramingo billed providers $573,992 for medications that were never provided to customers. The pharmacy used other tactics to maximise its profits, including: billing for brand name medications but dispensing the generic form; asking doctors to prescribe certain unnecessary and expensive medications; and asking doctors to switch medications to more expensive substitutes. Aramingo also refilled expensive medications and billed insurance companies for these refills without the patient’s knowledge and without ever dispensing the refills, keeping the full payment.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Eric Stryd and investigated by Special Agent Colleen Guss.
