Instead, Walgreens allegedly restocked and resold the same prescription to another customer without reversing the claim submitted to the government. The alleged scheme allowed Walgreens to collect payment twice on those prescriptions, receiving “tens of millions of dollars” for prescriptions never provided to government healthcare plan beneficiaries, the DOJ said.
“Medicare enrollees, and consumers at-large, rely on pharmacies for critical medications that sustain their quality of life, and providers who prey upon public healthcare programs to increase profit margins must be held accountable,” Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the Department of Health & Human Services' Office of Inspector General said in a statement. “HHS-OIG is unwavering in its commitment to protecting taxpayer-funded healthcare programs and ensuring those that threaten their integrity are held liable for their actions.”
To help prevent fraud of this nature again, Walgreens made changes to its electronic pharmacy management system, according to the DOJ’s statement.
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"Due to a software error, we inadvertently billed some government healthcare programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions our patients submitted but never picked up," a Walgreens spokesperson said in a statement to Crain's. "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."
As part of its agreement with the DOJ, Walgreens will receive a $66.3 million credit for previously refunding that amount to the government. Of the total amount paid by Walgreens, about $91.8 million is being returned to the federal government. The remaining $14.9 is being returned to individual states, where lawsuits were filed, such as New Mexico, Texas and Florida.
Walgreens stock was up 4% this afternoon.
This story first appeared in Crain's Chicago Business.
