Shockingly, compound drug merchants allegedly lied when they sold accounts receivable to investors.

Joe Paduda

Who’da thunk it?

Thanks to Greg Jones of WorkCompCentral for his excellent investigative reporting on this. Greg reports that:

• Exhibits filed in the lawsuit by Shadow Tree Investment against Praxsyn Corp. reveal connections to three providers accused of accepting kickbacks from other compounding pharmacies. Praxsyn owns Mesa Pharmacy in Irvine, California.
• Mesa was partnering with three providers who now face criminal charges for accepting kickbacks to prescribe compound drugs to injured workers.

The basis for the case appears to be that Praxsyn allegedly didn’t tell Shadow Tree about pertinent details about the A/R deal, details such as the accusations about the source of the bills, the alleged nefarious activities of some of the parties involved and relevant lien settlement information.

I was peripherally involved in something similar to this, when a compounding company was trying to sell its receivables and a couple of potential buyers called me for my opinions.

Which, briefly summarized, were “run like hell.”

What does this mean for you?

That remains good advice for anyone approached by compounders, physician prescribing companies and so-called “revenue cycle management firms” doing most of their work in these areas.

Joe Paduda is co-owner of CompPharma, a consortium of pharmacy benefit managers. This column is republished with his permission from his Managed Care Matters blog.