Walgreens Pays $269.2 Million to Settle Fraud Allegations
January 24, 2019 | Geoffrey R. Kaiser | False Claims Act | Fraud and Abuse | Litigation | Medicare and Medicaid | PharmaceuticalsWalgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., the operator of the Walgreens pharmacy chain, has agreed to pay $269.2 million in two settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve fraud allegations. The two cases arose from lawsuits filed by whistleblowers under the False Claims Act and were prosecuted federally by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which announced the settlements on January 22.
In one settlement, Walgreens must pay $209.2 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly billed the Medicare and Medicaid programs for hundreds of thousands of insulin pens dispensed to beneficiaries who did not need them. Walgreens admitted that it configured its pharmacy management system to prevent its pharmacists from dispensing less than a full box of insulin pens even when a patient did not require that much insulin, and circumvented federal program limits on the total number of daily doses that could be dispensed and reimbursed. These actions led to millions of dollars in program payments for medically unnecessary insulin, wasted valuable medication, and risked improper resale of insulin pens on the internet. In the second settlement, Walgreens agreed to pay $60 million and admitted that, contrary to Medicaid’s “best price” requirements, it did not disclose and seek reimbursement based on the discounted drug prices it offered customers through a program known as the Prescription Savings Club, causing Medicaid to vastly overpay Walgreens for the drug claims.
Approximately $69.2 million of the $269.2 million will be paid back to state Medicaid programs. As part of the settlements, Walgreens also entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The CIA requires various remedial measures, including board oversight and multi-site claims reviews to be conducted by an Independent Review Organization.
MORE NEWS ON False Claims Act
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on November 20 that Doctor’s Choice Home Care, Inc. agreed to pay $3,856,000 to...
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on October 29 that Medtronic USA Inc. agreed to pay $8.1 million to...
Read MoreAn article in the November issue of Healthcare Risk Management, “$50 Million Stark Settlement Shows Risk of Violation, Whistleblowers,” discussed...
Read More- ACOs
- Affordable Care Act
- Antitrust
- Behavioral Health
- Cannabis
- COVID-19
- Cybersecurity
- Electronic Health Records
- Employer/Employee
- False Claims Act
- FDA
- Fraud and Abuse
- HIPAA
- Home Health
- Hospitals
- Legislation and Public Policy
- Litigation
- Medical Devices and Wearables
- Medicare and Medicaid
- Nursing Homes
- Pharmaceuticals
- Private Insurers
- Tax/IRS
- Telehealth
December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018
- ACOs
- Affordable Care Act
- Antitrust
- Behavioral Health
- Cannabis
- COVID-19
- Cybersecurity
- Electronic Health Records
- Employer/Employee
- False Claims Act
- FDA
- Fraud and Abuse
- HIPAA
- Home Health
- Hospitals
- Legislation and Public Policy
- Litigation
- Medical Devices and Wearables
- Medicare and Medicaid
- Nursing Homes
- Pharmaceuticals
- Private Insurers
- Tax/IRS
- Telehealth
- Jennifer Abreu
- Brian R. Ade
- Ashley Algazi
- Mary Aperance
- Krystal B. Armstrong
- Khoren Bandazian
- Brian L. Bank
- Brandon Barbaruolo
- Dion K. Bass
- Jill F. Bechtold
- Joshua Beckham
- Yonatan Bernstein
- Christina M. Bezas
- Samantha T. Bibbo
- Jason M. Biegel
- Merril S. Biscone
- Patricia Bober
- Stuart M. Bodoff
- Lindsay M. Brocki
- Jonathan B. Bruno
- Jacqueline (Mecchella) Bushwack
- Curtis Campbell
- Michael C. Cannata
- David Cano
- Caitlin S. Cash
- Michele Chavez
- Kathryn Schulz Ches
- Kaitlyn B. Connor
- Sal Coppolino
- William Cornachio
- E.K. Cottrell
- Wayne M. Cox
- James P. Cronin
- Alexandra Cusano
- Melissa A. Dearing
- Nancy A. Del Pizzo
- Catalina E. De La Hoz
- Thomas V. DeMarco
- Joseph P. DiBella
- Janice J. DiGennaro
- Christine DiGregorio
- John K. Diviney
- Amanda B. Drantch
- Andrew Dugué
- Alan C. Eagle
- Glenn H. Egor
- Jeffrey Ehrhardt
- Daniel Ehrlich
- Scott A. Eisenmesser
- Karen Eng
- Joanne M. Engeldrum
- Harvey S. Epstein
- Eric D. Fader
- Brian L. Feld
- Scott L. Feuer
- John Ficarra
- Gary Fields
- James R. Finn
- Kaitlyn E. Flynn
- Richard A. Frankel
- Daniel E. Furshpan
- Avigael C. Fyman
- Jenna Z. Gabay
- Max Gershenoff
- Caitlyn Gibbons
- Laura (Mulholland) Gindele
- David Gise
- Maureen A. Glackin
- Erez Glambosky
- Ryan Goldberg
- Jordan Goldstein
- Tim Gonzalez
- Stuart I. Gordon
- Paul Gorfinkel
- Sean Gorton
- Wallis L. Granat
- Joel M. Greenberg
- Jeffrey S. Greener
- David M. Grill
- Amanda Griner
- Keith S. Grover
- Walter J. Gumersell
- Lawrence S. Han
- Mohammed Haque
- Tamika N. Hardy
- Rosemary Harnisher
- Anthony Hawkins
- Nicole Hecker
- Jean A. Hegler
- Amanda Hegyes
- Michael J. Heller
- Justin Henderson
- Steven T. Henesy
- Peter Henninger
- Katherine A. Heptig
- Jennifer F. Hillman
- Brandi Holton
- Claudia Honan (Hinrichsen)
- Jeremy B. Honig
- Ryan T. Hyde
- Michael N. Impellizeri
- Deborah M. Isaacson
- Robert H. Iseman
- Frank P. Izzo
- B. Edward Jaffe
- Ada Janocinska
- Katherine Jenkins
- Michael J. Jones
- Atara Kahn
- Geoffrey R. Kaiser
- Priscilla D. Kam
- Gene Y. Kang
- Bernadette Kasnicki
- Jay D. Kenigsberg
- Elan Kirshenbaum
- Michelle (Bholan) Klein
- Cheryl F. Korman
- Yaron J. Kornblum
- Michael A. Kotula
- Drew Krieger
- Evan H. Krinick
- Christopher J. Kutner
- Joseph T. La Ferlita
- Katie Lachter
- Matthew A. Lampert
- Marie A. Landsman
- Carol A. Lastorino
- Jessica Lefebvre
- Stella Lellos
- Alexander Lev
- Barry I. Levy
- Lawrence A. Levy
- Cari Lewis
- David Lobl
- Paul V. Majkowski
- Edwin A. Maldonado
- Benjamin P. Malerba
- Robert A. Maloney
- Christopher Mango
- Greg E. Mann
- Patricia C. Marcin
- John Marino
- Henry M. Mascia
- Rebecca Matthews
- John M. McFaul
- Lauren I. Mechaly
- Douglas E. Menikheim
- Silvana Merlino
- Heather S. Milanese
- Jamie (Eliassaint) Milfort
- Gregory D. Miller
- Morgan Miller
- Frank M. Misiti
- Morgan Moceyunas
- Nicholas G. Moneta
- Rebecca Morrison
- Dylan Mruczinski
- John P. Mulvaney
- Kenneth C. Murphy
- Anne M. Murray
- E. Christopher Murray
- Philip Nash
- James E. Nelson
- Mirielle Nezamy
- Joseph Niczky
- Kenneth A. Novikoff
- Moise A. Ogé
- Chloe Orta
- Thomas Paddock
- John Panagopoulos
- Michael F. Panayotou
- Alexander G. Pappas
- Ana Parikh
- Felicia Pasculli
- Domenick J. Pesce
- Albert W. Petraglia
- Jenna M. Pettograsso
- Joseph Pidel
- Claudia B. Pius
- Eric J. Ploumis
- Ashley Prinz
- Sheila Pugliese
- John F. Queenan
- Evan Rabinowitz
- Frank Raia
- Paul C. Repper, Jr.
- Gisella Rivera
- Pia E. Riverso
- John J. Robertelli
- Ryan Roberts
- Joanna B. Rosenblatt
- Burton R. Ross
- Lauren E. Russo
- Jeffrey P. Rust
- Alan S. Rutkin
- Andrea C. Sacks
- Eric Santos
- Mariann Sarraf
- William M. Savino
- Catherine Savio
- Evan R. Schieber
- William Schleifer
- Brian S. Schlosser
- Michael Schnepper
- Thomas P. Schulz
- Paul Schwabe
- Garin Scollan
- Spencer Serling
- Steven Shapiro
- Sahil Sharma
- Zan Sheikh
- Wendy Hoey Sheinberg
- Syma Shulman Levine
- Amy L. Silver
- Sean N. Simensky
- Avi Sinensky
- Harpreet K. Singh
- Michael A. Sirignano
- Joshua D. Smith
- Ariane Smith
- Joseph N. Salomon
- Karen E. Sosler
- Matthew V. Spero
- Eric S. Strober
- James Suozzo
- Elizabeth S. Sy
- Joshua M. Tare
- Stanley J. Tartaglia, Jr.
- Jonathan Tilles
- Frank P. Tiscione
- Alexandria E. (Tomanelli) Vath
- Michael A. Troisi
- Lindsey R. Trowell
- Marcus O. Tubin
- Robert Tugander
- Nadia Udeshi
- Marc S. Ullman
- Frank A. Valverde
- Michael Vanunu
- Michael P. Versichelli
- Louis Vlahos
- Jenson Wang
- Michael P. Welch
- Kristen L. Wenger
- Amy S. Wiedmann
- David S. Wilck
- Andrew L. Williams
- Jessica J. Williams
- Benjamin J. Wisher
- Alexandra Wolff
- Stephanie C. Zaferiou
- Matthew J. Zangwill
- Aaron E. Zerykier
- Victoria Zorovich
- Steven M. Zuckermann
- Rivkin Rounds Staff
- Author Test