ORONO, Maine — There is a new pharmacist behind the counter of Orono Pharmacy, allowing the business to continue to serve local customers while the owner is on professional probation for misconduct.
“I’ve been here 27 years and mistakes like this happen,” owner Ali Aghamoosa said Wednesday. “Unintentional mistakes happen.”
Pharmacist Bruce Jarvi, a Husson University School of Pharmacy Class of 2013 graduate, is listed as the pharmacist-in-charge for the Orono Pharmacy, Doug Dunbar, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, which oversees the Maine Board of Pharmacy, said in a Thursday email.
Recent violations require Aghamoosa to be supervised by a mentor when dispensing medication for the next year, and for him to pay a fine of $8,000. During his probation, he cannot be listed as the primary pharmacist at his business.
Aghamoosa signed a nine-page Maine Board of Pharmacy consent agreement on March 11 that lists the history of grievances filed against him and the board’s findings of misconduct in three 2015 complaints.
Aghamoosa admitted in the consent agreement that he charged a customer’s insurance company for three prescriptions that were not filled in 2015, that he allowed a pharmacist from Jordan to practice in his pharmacy without a valid license and that he lied on his annual license application by saying he had completed the required two hours of continuing education.
The agreement lists three other settled complaints — two filed in 2015 that resulted in a total of $4,000 in fines and 16 hours of additional education and a 2006 complaint that was settled by consent agreement in 2007 with a $100 fine and two hours of education.
Aghamoosa said Wednesday that there was no malice or ill will in the mistakes or misfills he made.
The pharmacy owner is allowed to hire a pharmacist to run operations, Dunbar said.
Aghamoosa has attempted to find a mentor so that he can resume dispensing medication, but was unsuccessful.
“Ali Aghamoosa submitted the name of a mentor to the Board, but that individual was not approved … because he did not sufficiently demonstrate retail pharmacy work experience,” Dunbar said in a Monday email. “Mr. Aghamoosa has not submitted the name of a new mentor yet. The Board will consider that new person as soon as possible, once the name is received. Until then, Mr. Aghamoosa can do certain work, such as deal with insurance billing, but he is not supposed to perform duties that require a pharmacist, such as fill a prescription or counsel patients.”
Aghamoosa said he is still working with the state to name a mentor, but added that he “was blessed to be able to hire someone” so quickly in order to continue to provide for customers.
“I don’t have a mentor right now but I’m open,” he said. “We hired a pharmacist.”