Walgreens has agreed to pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit filed in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois more than 10 years ago.
Walgreens was accused of engaging in a "systematic and routine waiver of patient copayments." This was to induce all patients at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System CORE center, an ambulatory healthcare center in Illinois, to fill prescriptions at a specialty pharmacy called Walgreens C&M, according to the lawsuit. This allegedly constituted kickbacks.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The case began in 2014 when plaintiff whistleblowers Sarah Castillo Baier and Rita Svendsen Baier sued Walgreens and a retail pharmacy branch manager alleging violation of the False Claims Act. The federal government and state of Illinois intervened.
The court on Monday dismissed the case after the parties filed for a Joint Stipulation of Dismissal.
In the civil action settlement, Walgreens agreed to pay $5,075,000 to be divided among the United States, state of Illinois and the whistleblowers.
The whistleblowers get $1.3 million, according to the settlement.
THE LARGER TREND
Earlier this month, Walgreens Boots Alliance announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity affiliated with private equity firm Sycamore Partners in a deal valued at $23.7 billion.
Walgreens has suffered losses due in large part to VillageMD. The company said it was evaluating a variety of options with respect to the $3.4 billion debt owed to WBA by VillageMD.
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org