New York-area drugstore chain Duane Reade Inc. will pay $369,744 to settle charges in a whistle-blower lawsuit that alleged a store-marketing program illegally paid doctors to prescribe more prescription drugs.
The unidentified whistle-blower pointed to the Duane Reade Kiosk Program, which allowed customers to enter prescription information electronically at their doctors' offices before they picked them up at their local Duane Reade store. The government said Duane Reade failed to charge a market rate for renting kiosk space at the doctors' offices and instead paid practitioners higher "rents" for prescribing more medications.
A spokesman for Duane Reade owner Walgreen Co. (WAG) declined to comment immediately on the settlement.
The agreement is the latest in a series of deals the government has struck with health-care companies accused of overcharging.
Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH) last week agreed to pay the federal government $8 million after two independent pharmacy operators in Ohio said the company paid them kickbacks to buy its drugs. A spokeswoman for Cardinal denied wrongdoing and said the company settled the charges but decided to settle to avoid further litigation.
CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) pharmacies in New Jersey and New York in January settled allegations of billing federal health-care programs for prescriptions filled by an excluded pharmacist. The company agreed to pay the U.S. $969,230 to resolve the civil and administrative claims.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Duane Reade To Pay US $369,744 To Settle Pharmacy Charges - FoxBusiness.com
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