A Port Richmond pharmacy ordered to pay nearly $900,000 for prescription drug scam

A Port Richmond pharmacy issued over $500,000 worth of fraudulent claims to insurance companies, according to a grand jury investigation.

Aramingo Pharmacy, located at 2313 E. Venango St. and owned by 32-year-old Ahmed Bachir, pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud, the AG’s office announced on Tuesday, and will need to pay nearly $900,000 in restitution after the investigation revealed the pharmacy billed insurance providers for medications that customers never received.

“Aramingo Pharmacy was more concerned with personal greed than patient care, using its authority to exploit health insurance providers,” said Attorney General Michelle Henry in a statement.

According to the investigation, between June 2019 and June 2021, the pharmacy billed insurance providers $573,992 for medications that never reached patients. The pharmacy would allegedly increase its profits by billing insurance providers for brand-name medication and dispensing generic options to customers. It would also ask doctors to change prescriptions to more expensive options, and to prescribe expensive and unnecessary medications. The pharmacy also would refill prescriptions with insurance companies, but did not tell customers that it was doing so, and didn’t provide those medications to them.

Aramingo Pharmacy and Bachir could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday. The phone number listed on the pharmacy website redirected to a voice message that said the pharmacy was currently closed. Google Maps lists the business as permanently closed.

Aramingo Pharmacy, through Bachir, is required to pay $573,992 in restitution to the health insurance providers and $300,866 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Human Services-Bureau of Program Integrity, according to a statement from the AG’s office.

Bachir will also have his pharmacist license suspended for five years, during which time he cannot be a provider of Medicaid.

The guilty plea comes as residents’ local pharmacy options are shrinking in the Philadelphia region and pharmacy employees are under pressure.

Rite Aid, a Philadelphia-based pharmacy chain, filed for bankruptcy last month and announced it would close locations, transferring patient prescriptions to nearby pharmacies.

Pharmacy employees at CVS and Walgreens also walked out of locations across the country last month, demanding better working conditions, according to CNN. Walgreens and CVS employees are largely not unionized, and some employees say pharmacies are understaffed, putting a strain on employees who need to fill prescriptions and vaccinate customers.

Aubrey Whelan contributed to this article.