Walgreens to pay $106M to settle allegations it submitted false payment claims for prescriptions

WASHINGTON — Walgreens has agreed to pay $106 million to settle lawsuits alleging the pharmacy chain submitted false payment claims to government health care programs for prescriptions that were never dispensed.

The settlement announced Friday ends whistleblower lawsuits brought by the U.S. Department of Justice in New Mexico, Texas and Florida on behalf of three people who worked at the Walgreens pharmacy.

The pharmacy chain was accused of submitting false payment claims to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs between 2009 and 2020 for prescriptions that were processed but never picked up.

The settlement documents show that Walgreens cooperated with the investigation and improved its electronic management system to prevent similar problems from happening again.

Walgreens said in a statement that a software error caused the chain to inadvertently bill several government programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions that patients had dropped off but never picked up.

“We corrected the error, reported the issue to the government and voluntarily refunded all overpayments,” Walgreens said in a statement.

In reaching the settlement, the chain admitted no legal liability in the lawsuits.