Dive Brief:
- Omnicare Inc., the largest U.S. nursing home pharmacy (now owned by CVS Health Corporation) will pay $28.125 million to settle allegations it solicited and received kickbacks from drug manufacturer Abbott Laboratories, the Department of Justice announced on Monday.
- The case alleged Omnicare took kickbacks in return for recommending physicians prescribe Abbott's anti-epileptic drug Depakote to nursing home patients.
- Of the settlement, about $20.3 million will go to the United States, and the remaining $7.8 million will cover Medicaid program claims from states that choose to participate in the settlement, the DOJ said.
Dive Insight:
Omnicare's settlement follows prior related settlements from Abbott and PharMerica that resolved allegations over their roles in the two whistleblower lawsuits filed by former Abbott employees under the False Claims Act.
Abbott agreed to pay $1.5 billion in 2012 to resolve its liability, while nursing home pharmacy PharMerica agreed to pay $9.25 million in 2015 for taking alleged kickbacks from Abbott.
Other recent, high-profile kickback cases have resulted in a settlement from Tenet and a case against the head of the Esformes Network of skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
The latest case alleged Omnicare worked with Abbott to disguise the provided kickbacks as grants and educational funding, including through Omnicare's “Re*View” program, which the complaint alleged was nothing but a means for soliciting kickbacks and increasing patients' drug utilization. It also accused Omnicare of taking funding from Abbott to hold Florida management meetings, as well as receiving tickets to sporting events and other payments.
The False Claims Act has been one of the most important tools in the federal government's fight against healthcare fraud, the DOJ added, noting that since January 2009, it has helped the department recover more than $31.6 billion, of which more than $19.2 billion came from fraud against federal healthcare programs.