Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Admits Role in Health Care Fraud and Criminal HIPAA Schemes

CAMDEN, N.J. – A former pharmaceutical sales representative admitted his role in two criminal conspiracies involving health care fraud and wrongful obtaining and disclosure of patients’ protected personal health information, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna announced today.

Keith Ritson, 42, of Bayville, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on Oct. 19, 2022, before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiring to wrongfully disclose and obtain patients’ individually identifiable health information in violation of the criminal provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). 

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2014 to 2016, Ritson was a pharmaceutical sales representative who promoted compound prescription medications and other medications. Compound medications are specialty medications mixed by a pharmacist to meet the specific medical needs of an individual patient. Although not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they are properly prescribed when a physician determines that an FDA-approved medication does not meet the health needs of a particular patient, such as if a patient is allergic to a dye or other ingredient.

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