Practices expect pressure to buy when a sales representative shows up. What they probably don't expect are sales pitches from someone who's related to one of their providers. But that's just one way Global Compounding Pharmacy, a Haleyville, Ala.-based company, encouraged its sales representatives to boost sales.
- Hired relatives of prescribers to work as sales representatives.
- Encouraged sales reps to volunteer at practices in order to gain access to patient files "and push Global’s products to patients."
- Frequently instructed employees to obtain high-dollar prescriptions that woud be filled by Global.
That was one part of the plot. Global also engaged in such activities as splitting up drug quantities in order to dodge billing safeguards, automatically refilling patient prescriptions and waiving co-payments to encourage patients to accept unnecessary refills.