Walgreens Pays Over $106 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Case

Late last week, the Department of Justice announced that Walgreen had agreed to pay over $106 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by billing government health care programs for prescriptions that were never dispensed.

According to the DOJ’s press release, between 2009 and 2020, Walgreens submitted false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs for prescriptions that it processed but that were never picked up by the beneficiaries.  According to the DOJ, Walgreens would restock and resell the same prescription to someone else without ever reversing the original claim, thereby getting paid twice for the same prescription.  “As a result, Walgreens received tens of millions of dollars for prescriptions that it never actually provided to health care beneficiaries.”

The settlement resolved three separate qui tam (whistleblower) lawsuits pending in the District of New Mexico, Eastern District of Texas, and Middle District of Florida.  One of the whistleblowers — a former Walgreens pharmacy manager — will receive nearly $15 million.  A second whistleblower — another former Walgreens employee — is set to receive over $1.6 million.

The DOJ’s press release also notes that Walgreens received credit under the DOJ’s guidelines for disclosure, cooperation, and remediation, for implementing enhancements to its electronic pharmacy management system in order to prevent this from occurring in the future, as well as for self-reporting certain conduct.

The attorneys Chilivis Grubman represent healthcare providers in connection with False Claims Act investigations and litigation.  If you need assistance with such a matter, please contact us today.