There They Go Again - Omnicare to Settle for $120 Million

The march of legal settlements seems to be on its way again. The Latest Settlement The details, per Reuters,Omnicare, Inc, a leading U.S. provider of pharmacy services to the elderly, has agreed to pay the U.S. government $120 million to settle allegations the company gave nursing homes steep discounts on prescription drugs in exchange for patient referrals. Cincinnati-based Omnicare announced the settlement on Wednesday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, but denied any wrongdoing. The lawsuit, filed in 2010 by former Omnicare employee Donald Gale, had been scheduled to go to trial on October 28.Gale accused the company of engaging in a kickback scheme called 'swapping' in which Omnicare allegedly gave nursing homes heavily discounted prescription drugs for inpatients covered by Medicare Part A. That federal benefit program pays skilled nursing facilities a fixed fee per patient, per day, for the first 100 days of a patient's stay, according to court filings.In exchange, the nursing homes allegedly referred their other patients, many covered by other federal benefit programs, allowing Omnicare to bill the full price of their prescription drugs and pharmacy services, the lawsuit said.As is usually the case, Omnicare's vice president of investor relations, Patrick Lee, said in an emailed statement that the company did not admit liability in settling the lawsuit.'The Company agreed to settle the matter in order to avoid continu...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: Omnicare kickbacks legal settlements Source Type: blogs