(Washington) Walgreens has agreed to pay $106 million to settle lawsuits that alleged the pharmacy chain submitted false claims to government health care programs for prescriptions that were never dispensed.
The settlement announced Friday ends lawsuits filed in New Mexico, Texas and Florida on behalf of three people who worked at Walgreens pharmacies. The lawsuits were brought under a provision of the False Claims Act that allows private parties to file lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. government and help recover money, the U.S. Justice Department said.
The pharmacy chain is accused of submitting false claims to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs between 2009 and 2020 for prescriptions that were filled but never paid.
Settlement documents indicate that Walgreens cooperated with the investigation and improved its electronic management system to prevent similar problems from recurring.
In a statement, Walgreens said that due to a software error, the chain inadvertently billed certain government programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions that patients submitted but never picked up.
“We corrected the error, reported the issue to the government and voluntarily refunded all overpayments,” Walgreens’ statement said.
By concluding the agreement, the channel did not acknowledge its legal responsibility in these matters.