Pharmacy Inspections Defense Attorneys

If you own or supervise a pharmacy, you are responsible for many issues. If you face pharmacy inspections or related legal issues, you need competent legal representation.

Various regulators and agencies have the authority to inspect your pharmacy. Be it the DEA, the OIG, the licensing board, or private auditors, you need an experienced attorney who can help you. Here at the Norman Spencer Law Group, we represent pharmacies and pharmacists nationwide in all federal audits and investigations. We are dedicated to defending providers and businesses. Our lawyers regularly work with a wide variety of governmental agencies and authorities in order to quickly resolve serious issues.

Pharmacy Inspections Compliance Audits

The pharmacy industry is one of the most heavily regulated. A pharmacy has a variety of legal obligations under federal and state laws, rules, and regulations. Any pharmacy that participates in the insurance plan such as ORx or CVS Caremark also needs to stay in compliance with their rules. Any pharmacy is subject to an audit or inspection at any time and for any reason. Failing to comply with any rule or regulation can result in serious consequences. You can lose your licenses and registrations. Payors will hold you accountable for restitution of any overpayments. In some extreme cases, you may even face criminal prosecution.

That’s why it’s so vitally important for a pharmacy owner or manager to take very proactive steps. Our experienced team of compliance and health care defense lawyers is here to help. We will work directly with you to make sure that you’re compliant before problems arise.

Law Enforcement Pharmacy Inspection Investigations

While your average pharmacy inspection tends to be a routine compliance inspection, some of them are more likely to investigate some things like a patient complaint, suspected diversion, and even fraud. An inspection that’s led by a complaint or suspected violation can quickly result in serious legal consequences. For that reason, it’s important that you get in touch with a competent healthcare defense lawyer right away if you even believe that you might be under investigation or subject to a pharmacy inspection.

An enforcement investigation can be very hard to distinguish from just a routine inspection. Some of the most important things that you should look out for are things like the presence of law enforcement authorities. This includes the Drug Enforcement Agency and Office of the Inspector General, together with state investigators (BOP/DOH), any administrative warrant that authorizes the seizure of your property, and any other investigator that might be seeking to take statements from staff.

How Do You Protect Yourself?

There are some common-sense steps you can take in order to protect yourself during pharmacy investigations. First, as always, keep in mind that you should not speak with investigators. Government investigations of pharmacies are often criminal in nature. At least, they have a high probability of becoming criminals. In the course of the investigation, the agency involved will do anything to collect as much information about the case as possible.

That means collecting evidence such as business records, invoices, and statements. If they determine that fraud has happened, there is not much you can do to stop or avoid the consequences. Therefore, you need to speak with a healthcare fraud defense attorney as soon as you know that there is an investigation.

Always protect your records. Never submit any documentation to any auditor before your lawyer had a chance to see it. It is extremely important and can save you a lot of legal complications down the line.

Norman Spencer Law Group for Help With Pharmacy Inspections

With years of experience representing pharmacies, the Norman Spencer Law Group is the law firm best-equipped to handle your case. We are able to see your case through to the end and get you results you’ll be satisfied with. No case is too complex for us. We’ve represented pharmacies and pharmacists facing all sorts of investigations and audits, at both the state and the federal level. We also handle many CVS Caremark and ORx audits. What’s more, we actually have a proven track record of success.

Our focus is on providing 1:1 service for every single one of our clients, and that begins with our convenient accessibility options. For example, we offer legal consultations hosted remotely through popular platforms like Zoom, Skype, and Google Duo. In most cases, we can represent you no matter where you might be in the country.

If you or your business face an audit or and investigation, do not take any chances. Saving money on legal fees or hiring the wrong law firm will come back and haunt you later. You will likely end up spending much more dealing with the consequences of the audit or the investigation.  Call our office today for a consultation.