Whistleblower Lawsuits In The News | CVS Settles Medicaid Overbilling Charges Suit For Almost $37 Million Dollars
According to the Chicago Tribune, CVS Caremark Corp. agreed to pay $36.7 million to settle charges it routinely overbilled Medicaid for a popular generic antacid drug, cheating federal and state governments out of millions of dollars over more than six years.
The lawsuit alleged that the pharmacy chain illegally substituted a more expensive capsule form of the drug instead of the prescribed tablets to increase its Medicaid reimbursement. Twenty-three states, including Illinois, and the District of Columbia, will share about $15.6 million of the CVS settlement.
The whistleblower, Bernard Lisitza, a pharmacist will receive $4.3 million dollars from the CVS settlement for his role in uncovering the alleged fraud and bringing the lawsuit.
