Walgreens, a Deerfield-based company, has agreed to pay $106 million to resolve allegations made by the federal government that they submitted false Medicare and Medicaid claims.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Walgreen Co. agreed to pay $106.8 million to resolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act and state statutes for billing government health care programs for prescriptions never dispensed, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Walgreens, headquartered in Deerfield, operates one of the largest retail pharmacy chains in the country.
The DOJ alleges that Walgreens submitted false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs between 2009 and 2020 for prescriptions that it processed but were never picked up by beneficiaries.
Walgreens received tens of millions of dollars for prescriptions that it never actually provided to health care beneficiaries, the DOJ said.
Walgreens received credit under the department’s guidelines for taking disclosure, cooperation and remediation into account in False Claims Act cases as part of the negotiated resolution in the case.
The DOJ said Walgreens implemented enhancements to its electronic pharmacy management system to help prevent the situation from occurring in the future.
“Federal health care programs provide critical health care services to millions of Americans,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
“We will hold accountable those who abuse these programs by knowingly billing for goods or services they did not provide,” Boynton said.
U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez for the District of New Mexico said that millions of Americans rely on federal healthcare and “fraudulently billing for prescriptions which are never dispensed endangers the integrity of these critical programs.”
The federal government will receive $91,881,530 while individual states, which jointly fund state Medicaid programs, will receive $14,933,259.
The settlement with Walgreens, which was announced Friday, resolves three cases pending in the District of New Mexico, Eastern District of Texas and Middle District of Florida under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which permits private parties to file suit for false claims on behalf of the United States and to share in any recovery.
Steven Turck, a former Walgreens pharmacy manager, filed the suit in the Eastern District of Texas related to billing Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs and will receive $14,918,675.
Andrew Bustos, a former Walgreens district pharmacy supervisor, filed the suit in the District of New Mexico related to billing Medicare Part B and will receive $1,620,000.