MILWAUKEE — Federal prosecutors in Milwaukee sued a Kentucky-based pharmaceuticals services firm on Friday, accusing PharMerica Corp. of illegally dispensing addictive narcotics without proper oversight.
The lawsuit was prompted by a whistleblower report in 2009 from pharmacist Jennifer Denk, who worked in the company's Pewaukee plant in southeastern Wisconsin. She said she observed illegal practices, and when her bosses ignored them she reported her concerns to the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported (http://bit.ly/13XE4oK ).
PharMerica, based in Louisville, Ky., provides pharmacy services for long-term care facilities across the nation. Between 2007 and 2009 it filled about 40 million prescriptions. Almost half of its revenues came from Medicare Part D billings.
A message left with the agency that handles public relations for PharMerica was not immediately returned.
The government's lawsuit accuses the company of filling orders for narcotics refills without a doctor's signature. Staff — not doctors — at client nursing homes would fax in their refill requests and PharMerica would fill the orders, sending a form to the patient's doctor for signature.
But the templates often came back unsigned, prosecutors said. Investigators found boxes full of unsigned templates in a 2009 raid of the Pewaukee site.
Prosecutors say PharMerica also employed the same procedures at its sites in Florida, California and Colorado.
PharMerica had previously been warned about the practices. The DEA audited the company's Indiana facility in 2000 and issued a warning about its noncompliance.
