The Kansas Attorney General’s Office said the state has joined a nationwide settlement in a Medicaid fraud case involving the Walgreens pharmacy chain.
Under the terms of the agreement, Walgreens—which operates one of the largest retail pharmacy chains in the country—will pay $97.8 million to resolve allegations that it unlawfully billed government health care programs for prescriptions that were never collected or otherwise received by patients. This is from two lawsuits specifically alleging that between 2009 and 2020, Walgreens unlawfully billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other government healthcare programs for prescription drugs that were never picked up by beneficiaries. As a result, Walgreens received tens of millions of dollars for uncollected prescriptions that it never actually provided to patients.
After the suits were filed, Walgreens implemented enhancements to its billing systems designed to prevent any future unlawful billing for uncollected prescriptions.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Walgreens received credit for self-disclosing certain claims, and for previously refunding $66.3 million in connection with the settled claims. The total recovery for all Medicaid programs under the settlement is $9.6 million. Of that amount, Kansas will receive $10,000 in restitution and other recoveries, which is based on the number of unfilled prescriptions in the state.
