Illinois Drug Litigation Lawyers

Omnicare Inc.To Pay $49.5 Million To Settle Medicaid Prescription Drug Fraud Allegations

The United States and 43 states will receive $49.5 million from Omnicare, Inc., of Covington, Kentucky, to settle Medicaid prescription-drug-fraud claims initiated by two whistleblowers, federal and state officials announced today. Omnicare, the largest provider of pharmacy services to skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities in the United States, allegedly substituted different versions of prescribed drugs (such as tablets for capsules) solely to significantly increase the cost and profit rather than for any legitimate medical reason. The settlement covers Omnicare’s submission of reimbursement claims to Medicaid programs in 43 states for three prescription drugs from April 2000 through 2005: Ranitidine (generic Zantac), Fluoxetine (generic Prozac) and Buspirone (generic Buspar).

The settlement, which was filed today in U.S. District Court in Chicago, was announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Michael Cleary, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, in Chicago; and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Also today, one of the two whistleblower lawsuits that initiated the case was unsealed, and, together, the cases yielded the largest-ever settlement of a federal health care fraud case in the Northern District of Illinois.

The case also marks the first time that a United States Attorney's Office has joined forces with the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU), to conduct a joint health care fraud investigation. NAMFCU is an organization of 49 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units and provides a forum for sharing information and improving the quality of investigations. In this case, agents from the FBI, the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, and the Health and Human Services Department's Office of Inspector General joined forces with state attorneys general and investigators from Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida. In addition, each of the 43 states in which Omnicare operated during the relevant time period provided electronic claims data and other information to the investigative team. Read more at usdoj.gov

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