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Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay a $106.8 million fine to settle allegations of billing federal health care programs for unfilled prescriptions. The Department of Justice announced Friday that the settlement resolves claims Walgreens violated the False Claims Act and state laws.
The government alleges that between 2009 and 2020, Walgreens submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs for prescriptions that were never picked up by patients. Instead of canceling the claims, Walgreens resold the medications and received payment twice, collecting tens of millions in taxpayer dollars over the 11-year period.
“This settlement marks another major achievement in our ongoing commitment to combat health care fraud,” U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida said in a statement announcing the agreement, according to a Fox Business report. “It is essential to hold pharmacies accountable when they knowingly fail to abide by the rules and requirements of our national health care programs.”
“Due to a software error, we inadvertently billed some government health care programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions our patients submitted but never picked up,” a Walgreens spokesperson said in a statement when reached by FOX Business for comment, maintaining they were not held liable. “We corrected the error, reported the issue to the government and voluntarily refunded all overpayments. We appreciate the government acknowledged our compliance efforts as part of resolving this matter.”
The DOJ noted that Walgreens received credit for its efforts to disclose, cooperate, and address the issues behind the alleged False Claims Act violations. Walgreens enhanced its electronic pharmacy system to prevent future problems and self-reported some issues. The company had already refunded over $66 million to the government, which will be credited toward the settlement.
Walgreens Boots Alliance agreed to pay $106.8 million to settle charges it billed the U.S. government for prescriptions that were never dispensed, the Department of Justice said on Friday. https://t.co/17LzexXyfc https://t.co/17LzexXyfc
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) September 13, 2024
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