Pharmacist Mitchell “Chad” Barrett pled guilty for his participation in a scheme to defraud TRICARE and other health care benefit programs by distributing medically unnecessary compounded medications. Thomas “Tommy” Wilburn Shoemaker of Louisiana also pled guilty in the scheme by acting as a marketer for Barrett’s pharmacies.
Barrett holds a pharmacist license in Mississippi and co-owned several compounding pharmacies. Barrett’s participation in the scheme included adjusting prescription formulas to obtain the highest reimbursement without consideringefficacy; soliciting and paying recruiters commissions for obtaining prescriptions for high margin compounded medications;and routinely reducing or waiving copayments through a purported copayment assistance program that falsely made it appear as if his pharmacies had been collecting copayments.