The United States Department of Justice announced on September 13, 2024 that Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Walgreen Co. (together, Walgreens) have 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. Walgreens, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, operates one of the largest retail pharmacy chains in the country.
The government alleged that between 2009 and 2020, Walgreens submitted false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs for prescriptions that it processed but that were never picked up by beneficiaries. As a result, Walgreens received tens of millions of dollars for prescriptions that it never actually provided to health care beneficiaries.
As part of the resolution, Walgreens received credit under the department’s guidelines for taking disclosure, cooperation and remediation into account in False Claims Act cases. Among other actions, Walgreens implemented enhancements to its electronic pharmacy management system to prevent this from occurring in the future and self-reported certain conduct. Because Walgreens previously refunded $66,314,790 pertaining to the settled claims, Walgreens will receive a credit for this amount.
The federal share of the recovery is $91,881,530, and a total of $14,933,259 will be returned to individual states, which jointly fund state Medicaid programs, through separate settlement agreements with the Medicaid participating states.
The federal government’s settlement with Walgreens resolves three cases pending in the District of New Mexico, Eastern District of Texas and Middle District of Florida under the qui tam, or 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 qui tam 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 qui tam suit in the District of New Mexico related to billing Medicare Part B and will receive $1,620,000.
The civil settlements with Walgreens resolved the following captioned cases: United States ex rel. Bustos v. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., et al., No. 1:15-cv-781 (DNM); United States ex rel. Turck, et al. v. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., et al., No. 4:19-cv-315 (EDTX); and United States, et al. ex rel. Jacob v. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., No. 8:20-cv-858-T-60TGW (MDFL).
If you have information regarding false claims having been submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, other federal health care programs, or to other federal agencies/programs, and the information is not publicly known and no actions have been taken by the government with regard to recovering the false claims, you should promptly consult with a False Claims Act attorney (also known as qui tam attorneys) in your U.S. state who may investigate the basis of your False Claims Act allegations and who may also assist you in bringing a qui tam lawsuit on behalf of the United States, if appropriate, for which you may be entitled to receive a portion of the recovery received by the U.S. government.
Visit our website or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to be connected with qui tam lawyers (False Claims Act lawyers) in your U.S. state who may assist you with a False Claims Act lawsuit.
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