Walgreen to settle Medicaid billing case for $9.9 million
Walgreen has agreed to pay $9.9 million to settle allegations by the Department of Justice and four states — Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and Minnesota — that the company improperly billed Medicaid, DOJ said in a statement on Monday. According to DOJ, the allegations involved Medicaid claims for medications dispensed to beneficiaries who also had private health insurance. DOJ said that Walgreen charged the Medicaid programs in the four states the difference between the amount that private insurers paid for the medications and the amount that the programs would have paid for beneficiaries who did not have private health insurance. In those four states, Walgreen can bill Medicaid programs only for the amount of copayments for medications dispensed to beneficiaries who also have private health insurance, DOJ said. DOJ did not disclose whether Walgreen admitted any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The allegations against Walgreen resulted from a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by Daniel Bieurance and Neil Thompson, two pharmacists in Minneapolis. Under the settlement, the pharmacists will receive a combined $1.44 million.