HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges against Surnil Pharmacy, Inc. — which primarily operated as Haussemann’s Pharmacy — regarding a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud the Medicaid and Medicare programs through reimbursements of HIV medications.
According to the investigation, Haussemann’s Pharmacy on West Girard Avenue dispensed unregulated HIV medications that the owner claimed — through more than $2 million in Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements — as if they were from legitimate distributors, as required by law.
Employees told agents that the HIV medications on the pharmacy’s shelf were not from legitimate wholesale suppliers, and the investigation validated those allegations.
The Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Section charged Surnil Pharmacy, Inc. — owned by Subhash Patel — with three counts of Medicaid Fraud, one count of theft by deception, and one count of violating the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device, and Cosmetics Act.
“This pharmacy cut corners to maximize profits while putting patients at risk and defrauding taxpayers who fund the Medicaid program,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Our thorough investigation revealed that patients who depended on these life-saving medications were, in reality, receiving diverted, or unregulated, drugs that the pharmacy obtained from unknown, unapproved sources.”
The Office of Attorney General jointly investigated this case with the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General.
The investigation found no evidence of individuals who experienced physical harm or illness due to these dispensed medications.
Haussemann’s Pharmacy, along with other pharmacies owned by Patel — West Girard Health Pharmacy, East Lehigh Health Pharmacy, Frankford Health Pharmacy, and 11th and Walnut Pharmacy — have since closed.
Agents interviewed Haussemann’s employees who said that the owner, Patel, was acquiring expensive HIV medications from a source other than one of Haussemann’s legitimate wholesale drug suppliers and putting them on the shelf to be dispensed to patients.
The employees described the bottles as “sticky” to the touch, as if labels had been removed from the bottles. The medication bottles appeared to have been adulterated and not purchased from legitimate wholesale suppliers as required by federal and state law.
To ensure the safety of prescription medications, the drugs are typically sent from the manufacturer to one of only a handful of authorized wholesale distributors, who in turn, sell the prescription medications directly to pharmacies for ultimate distribution to patients.
The investigation revealed that nearly 100,000 tablets of HIV medications dispensed at the pharmacy were not obtained through documented purchases from authorized distributors.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Section. Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The Pennsylvania Medicaid Fraud Control Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $12,839,940 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $4,279,979 for FY 2025, is funded by Pennsylvania.
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