Walgreens to Pay $106.8M to Settle Whistleblower Case Alleging it Billed the Government for Prescriptions it Did Not Dispense
Walgreens has agreed to pay $106.8 million to settle false claims allegations that between 2009 and 2020 it billed government healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, for prescriptions that it never dispensed because they were not picked up by patients. The government alleged that Walgreens received tens of millions of dollars to which it was not entitled for prescriptions that it never actually provided to health care beneficiaries.
Two former Walgreens employees stepped forward to blow the whistle on this years-long scheme. Steven Turck, a former Walgreens pharmacy manager, filed his qui tam suit related to billing Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs and will receive nearly $15 million as a reward. Andrew Bustos, a former Walgreens district pharmacy supervisor, filed a similar suit regarding Medicare Part B billing and will receive over $1.6 million for his efforts.
Because these two whistleblowers spoke up, they not only helped uncover years of fraudulent billing, but also ensured Walgreens was held accountable for allegedly violating federal healthcare program regulations. Both whistleblowers took significant risks by coming forward, but their actions resulted in a substantial financial reward and helped protect the public and healthcare system.
“Millions of Americans rely on the promise of federal healthcare through programs like Medicare and Medicaid,” said U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez for the District of New Mexico in the DOJ press release. “Fraudulently billing for prescriptions which are never dispensed endangers the integrity of these critical programs. We are committed to guarding the public’s investment in our health from private corporations.”
U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs for the Eastern District of Texas expressed the importance of this major settlement saying, “We will not allow companies to hide behind their implementation of ill-conceived technology and systems that result in billing federal health care programs for goods and services never provided to beneficiaries. In those situations, we will pursue the companies and ensure that the taxpayer is made whole.”
This case also illustrates the importance of defendant companies working with the government on a resolution. Here, Walgreens received credit for taking disclosure, cooperation and remediation into account and for implementing enhancements to its electronic pharmacy management system to prevent the issue from occurring in the future. Walgreens also previously returned over $66 million of the improperly billed money and received a credit for that amount.
If you believe to have information on potential pharmaceutical or healthcare fraud and would like to report it, please don’t hesitate to contact us to speak to a Constantine Cannon whistleblower team member for a free consultation. Also, learn more about whistleblower rewards programs, or what it means to be a whistleblower.
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