Rashid files countersuit in 2021 seizure

IMPROPER ANALYSIS ASSERTION

In other words, the Qlarant data counted shortfalls for drugs packaged one way, but omitted overages for the same drugs purchased in different packaging. At no point was there ever any demonstrable assertion of  shortage of Medicare or Medicaid.”

Polk County Court affidavit

FORT MADISON – A five-year old case against a former Fort Madison pharmacy may be getting a judicial review as evidence may have been uncovered exonerating the pharmacy from federal wrongdoing associated with Medicare and Medicaid billing.
A federal search warrant was conducted at Rashid Pharmacy on March 30, 2021 under the auspices of discrepancies relative to a fraud investigation. The warrant was issued upon completion of a third-party analysis by a firm known as Qlarant. Qlarant is a government contractor with the Department of Health and Human Services and frequently works on fraud investigations around the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
According to an affidavit filed at Iowa District Court in Polk County, Rashid’s attorney’s claims Qlarant only analyzed Medicare billings and not billings related to Medicaid. The records also indicate the federal government has acknowledged it misinterpreted the Qlarant data, giving rise to discrepancies around inventories of drugs at the pharmacy upon seizures on March 30, 2021. The pharmacy closed one year later and was sold to Nelson Family Pharmacy, currently doing business in the same location.
The inventory discrepancies happened around what are known as NDC codes, which are required by federal law for any brand or generic drug packaged. The codes are assigned using three parts and describe packaging product and amounts.
Qlarant’s data, again according to court records, demonstrated that Rashid Pharmacy, owned at the time by Joe Rashid, had ample inventory to support Medicare billings when all package codes were considered in total.
“In other words, the Qlarant data counted shortfalls for drugs packaged one way, but omitted overages for the same drugs purchased in different packaging,” court records indicated. “At no point was there ever any demonstrable assertion of  shortage of Medicare or Medicaid.”
On June 29 of 2021 Iowa Medicaid Enterprise suspended Medicaid payments to Rashid claiming a “credible allegation of fraud” existed. No other pharmacy program in which Rashid Pharmacy participated, specifically Illinois and Missouri, suspended payments to the pharmacy following the investigation. The affidavits also asserts no payments from Medicare were ever suspended, and no reports of patient-reported fraud were received by any state or federal regulators.
Rashid claims IME has withheld between $2 million and $3 million in payments for products lawfully dispensed.
Rashid, through his attorneys, is asking for a judicial review of the suspended payments and a review of a May 22, 2026 refusal to issue a declaratory order by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
According to a copyrighted article by Clark Kauffman in Iowa Capital Dispatch, in October of 2021 an Iowa Administrative Law Judge issued a proposed order in favor DHHS citing “precious little to indicate Medicaid fraud” while also adding that “there is no definitive proof of no fraud”.
Joe Rashid declined to comment on the case citing pending court proceedings.