Walgreens to pay $106M to settle allegations it submitted false payment claims for prescriptions

WASHINGTON (AP) – Walgreens has agreed to pay $106 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the pharmacy chain submitted false payment claims to government health care programs for prescriptions that were never dispensed.

The settlement announced Friday resolves lawsuits filed on behalf of three people who worked at Walgreens' pharmacy operations in New Mexico, Texas and Florida. The lawsuits were filed under whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act that allow private parties to file lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. government and share in recovering money, the U.S. Justice Department said. The pharmacy chain was accused of submitting false payment claims to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs between 2009 and 2020 for prescriptions that were processed but never picked up.

The settlement documents said Walgreens cooperated with the investigation and improved its electronic management system to prevent such problems from reoccurring.

In a statement, Walgreens said that due to a software error, the chain inadvertently billed some government programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions that patients submitted but never picked up.

“We have corrected the error, reported the issue to the government and voluntarily refunded all overpayments,” Walgreens said in a statement.

In reaching the settlement, the chain did not admit legal liability for the lawsuits. ____ This story has been corrected to show that the lawsuits were filed by private parties, not by the US Department of Justice