Walgreens Settles $106 Million Allegations for Submitting False Payment Claims

In a recent development, Walgreens has agreed to pay $106 million to settle lawsuits that accused the pharmacy chain of submitting false payment claims with government health care programs. The allegations involved prescriptions that were processed but never picked up.

The settlement, announced on Friday, resolves lawsuits filed in New Mexico, Texas, and Florida on behalf of former employees from Walgreens’ pharmacy operation. These cases were brought under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, allowing private parties to file on behalf of the government and share in the recovery of funds, the U.S. Justice Department confirmed.

According to the allegations, Walgreens submitted false payment claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs between 2009 and 2020 for prescriptions that were never dispensed to patients.

Documents related to the settlement reveal that Walgreens cooperated in the investigation and has since implemented improvements to its electronic management system to prevent similar issues in the future.

Walgreens, in a statement, attributed the billing errors to a software issue, acknowledging that a small number of prescriptions were inadvertently billed to government programs despite not being picked up by patients. The chain rectified the error, reported it to the government, and voluntarily refunded all overpayments.

While agreeing to the settlement, Walgreens did not admit legal liability in the cases, maintaining that the error was unintentional.