N.J. Pharmacist Has License Suspended, Barred From Participating in Medicaid Program as Part of Fraud Sentence

New Jersey’s Division of Criminal Justice Director Vaughn McKoy announced that a Bergen County pharmacist has been suspended from reportedly dispensing controlled medications and barred from participating in the federal-state Medicaid Program as part of a court-ordered sentence after seeking more than $35,000 in Medicaid payments for prescription drugs that were never prescribed or distributed to patients.

The Medicaid Program is funded by the state and federal governments and provides health care services and prescription drugs to persons who may not otherwise be able to afford such services and medicines.

According to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden-Brown, Jennifer Kim, 38, of Bergen County, was ordered to surrender her professional license for one year, barred from participating in the Medicaid Program for five years, ordered to serve one year probation, and fined $1,000 by Bergen County Superior Court Judge Donald Venezia. The sentence was imposed on Dec. 5.

Gooden Brown noted that Kim, the owner/pharmacist of the now defunct Medicine Shoppe pharmacy located in Arlington, Hudson County, pleaded guilty to a charge of Medicaid Fraud contained in a criminal Accusation.

At the guilty plea hearing on Oct. 23, before Judge Venezia, Kim reportedly admitted that from March through August, 2001, she submitted dozens of fraudulent bills to the Medicaid Program for prescription medicines that were never prescribed or provided to Medicaid patients. The prescriptions were not prescribed by any physician.