New York Pediatrician Pleads Guilty to Defrauding State Vaccine Program

Pediatrician Ghulam Mustafa, MD, who practiced in Albion and Medina, N.Y., has pleaded guilty to defrauding the state's no-cost vaccine program by selling vaccines he had received for free, according to a Buffalo News report.

Dr. Mustafa, who is employed by the Hassan Medical Group, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree larceny and to selling vaccines he had obtained at no cost from the state program, which offers free vaccines to providers who then administer them without charge to eligible patients such as the uninsured, Native Americans or Medicaid beneficiaries.

He agreed to pay the state $179,000 for the vaccines he sold to patients who weren't eligible for free shots from 2004 to 2007. Dr. Mustafa will be sentenced June 13. He faces up to four years in prison.

Read the Buffalo News report on Dr. Ghulam Mustafa.

Read more about physicians and lawsuits:

- Montana Anesthesiologist Gets Three Years Probation for Prescription Fraud

- Tennessee Anesthesiologist Dr. Allen Foster Pleads Guilty to Overbilling Medicare

- Maryland Internist Allegedly Bilked More Than $800K From Medicare, Medicaid

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