Walgreens to pay $106 million to settle allegations it submitted false prescription claims

WASHINGTON (AP) — Walgreens has agreed to pay $106 million to settle lawsuits alleging the drugstore chain submitted false claims to government health care programs for prescriptions that were never filled.

The settlement announced Friday resolves lawsuits filed in New Mexico, Texas and Florida on behalf of three people who had worked at Walgreens pharmacies. The lawsuits were filed under a whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which allows private parties to file a case on behalf of the United States government and participate in recovering money, the US Department of Justice said. The pharmacy chain was accused of submitting false claims to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs between 2009 and 2020 for prescriptions that were processed but not picked up.

Regulatory filings say Walgreens has cooperated with the investigation and improved its electronic management system to prevent such problems from occurring again.

In a statement, Walgreens said that due to a software error, the chain mistakenly 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’ statement said.

In reaching the settlement, the chain did not acknowledge legal liability in the cases. ____ This story has been corrected to say the lawsuits were filed by private parties, not the U.S. Department of Justice.