ORONO, Maine — The owner of Orono Pharmacy has been fined $8,000 by the state and faces a year of probation as a pharmacist after admitting he fraudulently billed an insurance company and committed other unprofessional acts in the course of running his business.
Ali Aghamoosa signed a nine-page consent agreement with the Maine Board of Pharmacy and the state attorney general’s office early Friday that detailed his misconduct and the state’s disciplinary actions against him. The agreement, which also stipulated that he be reprimanded, enabled him to keep his license under the condition that another licensed pharmacist oversee his work at the Mill Street pharmacy for a year beginning on March 28.
Aghamoosa, who has been filling prescriptions at the pharmacy since 2000, was behind the counter on Friday but declined to comment for this story.
The consent agreement was signed eight days after Aghamoosa was sent a March 3 letter from Joseph Bruno, president of the Maine Board of Pharmacy, informing him that his license would be suspended for 30 days, starting Friday, while the state continued its investigation of his conduct.
Doug Dunbar, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, which oversees the Maine Board of Pharmacy, said the consent agreement was approved at a special meeting of the board held at 8 a.m. Friday. It was signed by Bruno, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Black and Aghamoosa.
The consent agreement lifted the 30-day suspension of Aghamoosa’s license. It also stated he could be subject to penalties including suspension or revocation of his license if he violates any terms of the agreement.
“Mr. Aghamoosa admits to the facts as stated above and admits that such conduct constitutes grounds for disciplining him … for misrepresenting his education on an application for licensure; … by commiting fraud, deceit, or corruption in insurance reimbursement procedures; and … by [aiding] or abetting the unlicensed practice of pharmacy by a person who is not licensed as required by the governing law of the Board,” the consent agreement states.
The $8,000 fine, which must be paid within 90 days, consists of “$1,500 for each of the three instances of fraudulent billing, $1,000 for each of the three months he aided unlicensed practice, and $500 for his misrepresentation for education on his license application,” the consent agreement states.
Aghamoosa admitted in the consent agreement that he charged a customer’s insurance company for services not provided.
According to the document, on or about May 13, 2015, Aghamoosa received a prescription with three refills for Denavir 1 percent cream. “The patient did not pick up the prescription, but Mr. Aghamoosa still billed the patient’s insurance company for $631.22, even though Mr. Aghamoosa returned the medication to the wholesaler and received a full refund.”
On July 6, 2015, Aghamoosa billed the patient’s insurance for the first refill, then on Nov. 6, 2015, another bill was issued for the second refill, neither of which was filled at the Orono Pharmacy, he admitted in the consent agreement.
Aghamoosa admitted in the consent agreement that on Dec. 14, 2015, when he submitted a license renewal application, he lied about the two hours of continuing education required annually by statute.
Aghamoosa also admitted that from Sept. 20 through Dec. 21, 2015, he allowed a person who was not licensed in Maine or otherwise qualified under board rules to practice pharmacy at his business.
Aghamoosa’s probation stipulates he not be allowed to be the pharmacist-in-charge at his store or any other location. Starting on March 28, he must be accompanied by a board-approved peer whenever he’s dispensing medications for one year, perhaps longer if he does not log 1,500 hours of peer-supported dispensing.
His peer monitor, who cannot be a relative, must keep and submit monthly reports to the Board of Pharmacy stating that Aghamoosa is not breaking any pharmacy rules.
This was not Aghamoosa’s first instance of being disciplined by the Board of Pharmacy.
Aghamoosa had on three previous occasions — Feb. 27, 2007; Sept. 18, 2015; and March 3, 2016 — “admitted to engaging in unprofessional conduct, specifically failing to maintain effective controls to prevent prescription errors or misfills.”
The consent agreement states he paid three previous fines, $100 for the first offense, $1,000 for the second offense and $3,000 for the third offense, and agreed to take a total of 19 hours of additional continuing education based on earlier consent agreements signed to resolve the violations.