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Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay a $106.8 million penalty to resolve allegations that it billed federal health care programs for prescriptions that were never filled.
of Department of Justice The company announced Friday that it had reached an agreement with Walgreens to resolve the government's allegations that Walgreens violated the False Claims Act and state law.
Walgreens has agreed to pay more than $106 million to settle government charges that it billed federal health agencies for prescriptions that were never filled. (Joe Raedl/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The government alleges that between 2009 and 2020, Walgreens sent false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs for prescriptions that were filled by its pharmacies but never picked up by patients.
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Instead of dropping charges for the abandoned drugs, Walgreens refilled them, resold them to other customers, and received double payments for the prescriptions. Over an 11-year period, the government said, the pharmacy chain collected tens of millions of dollars from taxpayers for drugs that never reached the intended recipients.
The Justice Department alleges that over a decade, Walgreens billed federal health care agencies tens of millions of dollars for prescriptions that never reached beneficiaries. (Lindsay Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/Getty Images)
“This settlement marks another major achievement in our ongoing efforts to combat health care fraud,” U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg of the Middle District of Florida said in a statement announcing the agreement. “It is essential that we hold pharmacies accountable when they knowingly fail to comply with the rules and requirements of our state health care system.”
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As part of the settlement, Walgreens did not admit liability.
“A software error caused us to mistakenly bill some government health programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions that patients submitted but did not receive,” a Walgreens spokesperson said in a statement in response to FOX Business' request for comment.
“We corrected the error, reported the issue to the government, and voluntarily refunded the overpayment in full. We appreciate the government's recognition of our compliance efforts as part of the resolution of this matter.”
| Ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WBA | Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | 9.21 | +0.37 |
+4.19% |
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.
As part of the settlement, Walgreens was recognized for taking numerous steps to disclose, cooperate and resolve the issues that led to the alleged False Claims Act violations, the Justice Department said.
The government said Walgreens had strengthened its electronic pharmacy management system to prevent the problems from recurring and had self-reported some of the issues.
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The government says Walgreens has paid more than $66 million back to the government as part of the settlement, and the company will be deducted from that amount.
