Bilt CEO Ankur Jain explains how members will be capable to use their FSA/HSA accounts for his or her Walgreens purchases.
Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay a $106.8 million superb to settle allegations the pharmacy chain billed federal well being care packages for prescriptions that have been by no means crammed.
The Division of Justice introduced Friday an settlement with Walgreens had been reached to resolve the federal government’s claims that the corporate violated the False Claims Act and state statutes.
Walgreens has agreed to pay greater than $106 million to settle authorities claims it billed federal well being care businesses for prescriptions that have been by no means allotted. (Joe Raedle/Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
The federal government alleges that, between 2009 and 2020, Walgreens despatched false claims for fee to Medicare, Medicaid and different federal well being care packages for prescriptions that have been processed at its pharmacies however that have been by no means picked up by the sufferers.
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As an alternative of withdrawing the claims for the deserted medicine, Walgreens restocked and resold them to different prospects, receiving fee twice for the prescriptions. In accordance with the federal government, the pharmacy chain collected tens of hundreds of thousands in taxpayer {dollars} over the 11-year interval for medication that by no means made it to its supposed well being care beneficiaries.
The DOJ claims that, over a decade, Walgreens billed federal well being care businesses for tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for prescriptions that by no means made it to beneficiaries. (Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Common Pictures Group through Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
“This settlement marks another major achievement in our ongoing commitment to combat health care fraud,” U.S. Lawyer Roger B. Handberg for the Center District of Florida mentioned in an announcement asserting the settlement. “It is essential to hold pharmacies accountable when they knowingly fail to abide by the rules and requirements of our national health care programs.”
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As a part of the settlement, Walgreens didn’t admit legal responsibility.
“Due to a software error, we inadvertently billed some government health care programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions our patients submitted but never picked up,” a Walgreens spokesperson mentioned in an announcement when reached by FOX Enterprise for remark.
“We corrected the error, reported the issue to the government and voluntarily refunded all overpayments. We appreciate the government acknowledged our compliance efforts as part of resolving this matter.”
Ticker Safety Final Change Change % WBA WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE INC. 9.21 +0.37
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Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
The DOJ mentioned that as a part of the decision, Walgreens did obtain credit score for taking various actions to reveal, cooperate and repair the problems that led to the alleged False Claims Act violations.
The federal government mentioned Walgreens has enhanced its digital pharmacy administration system to stop the issues from taking place once more and self-reported some points.
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Walgreens beforehand refunded the federal government greater than $66 million in settlement claims, the federal government mentioned, and the corporate will obtain credit score for that quantity.
