Pharmacist’s license suspended over insurance fraud conviction
The Pennsylvania Department of State has suspended the pharmacy license of a Connellsville man who took part in a scheme to fraudulently bill insurance companies for non-existent prescriptions.
Jay Steven Stern, 59, was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $2,000 and his license was indefinitely suspended for at least three years, retroactive to Jan. 14, 2010. However, only the first year of the suspension was active, and the remaining 24 months were stayed in favor of probation, according to a listing of suspensions from the DOS.
Stern pleaded guilty to insurance fraud, and was sentenced to three years of probation in Fayette County Court last year.
Stern and his brother, Louis D. Stern, co-owned the former Burns Drug Stores in Connellsville, Mount Pleasant and Scottdale. Both faced variously charges for conspiring to bill Highmark Insurance Co. for nearly 300 prescriptions that did not exist. The amount they allegedly received was $70,000.
Louis Stern who also pleaded guilty in the matter and was sentenced to three years probation, was released early from his sentence because of ill health.