Falls RX, LLC d/b/a Ultra Care Pharmacy Baltimore
Outcome
U.S. District Court approved May 12, 2022 consent decree with pharmacist Ketan Dankhara and Ultra Care Pharmacy for filling at least several dozen fraudulent controlled substance prescriptions without red-flag resolution, including prescriptions from an OB/GYN written for biologically male patients.
Details
Falls RX, LLC d/b/a Ultra Care Pharmacy Baltimore — DEA Consent Decree for Fraudulent Prescription Dispensing (2020–2022)
Outcome: U.S. District Court approved a consent decree on May 12, 2022, with pharmacist Ketan K. Dankhara and Falls RX, LLC d/b/a Ultra Care Pharmacy Baltimore ("Ultra Care"), resolving civil allegations that Dankhara and Ultra Care violated the Controlled Substances Act by filling at least several dozen fraudulent controlled substance prescriptions without resolving multiple red flags, including prescriptions written by an OB/GYN for biologically male patients.
Between at least May and September 2020, a single individual came to Ultra Care and attempted to fill controlled substance prescriptions for a number of people simultaneously — many of whom had never previously been patients at the pharmacy. At least several dozen of these prescriptions were fraudulent. Some of the fraudulent prescriptions were for the same drug, strength, and quantity from the same prescriber, and some were prescribed by an OB/GYN to individuals who were biologically male — an obvious clinical impossibility that should have immediately flagged the prescriptions as fraudulent.
Pharmacist Dankhara made no attempt to determine whether the prescriptions were legitimate, nor did he otherwise resolve any of the red flags. On at least one occasion, Dankhara indicated on a fraudulent prescription that he had spoken with the prescriber to verify the prescription, when he later admitted that he had no such conversation.
Under the consent decree, Dankhara and Ultra Care are required to document red flags and their resolution in detail before filling prescriptions bearing those flags, including when multiple new-patient prescriptions are presented simultaneously, when prescriptions contain demographic inconsistencies, or when a single individual presents prescriptions for multiple different patients.
Primary Source: DEA Press Release — Consent Decree Approved Between the United States and Baltimore-Based Pharmacy and Pharmacist (May 12, 2022)
How Crucible Prevents This
A single individual presented dozens of prescriptions for multiple patients simultaneously, and Dankhara filled them without verification — including prescriptions from an OB/GYN for biologically male patients, a straightforward biological-demographic inconsistency. Crucible's batch-fill alert (flagging multiple new-patient prescriptions filled in a single transaction) and demographic-prescriber specialty cross-check would have blocked these fills before the first fraudulent prescription was dispensed.
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