The lawsuit alleges that from 2010 to 2018, instead of getting newprescriptions from patients' doctors, Omnicare's pharmacies just"rolled over" the prescriptions. (Photo: Shutterstock)
The Manhattan U.S. attorney has filed a civil health care fraudlawsuit against pharmacy service provider Omnicare, acquired by CVS Health Corp. in2015.
|According to Modern Healthcare, CVS and Omnicare were suedfor fraudulently billing Medicare and other programs for drugs forolder and disabled people without valid prescriptions. Omnicare,which has been in hot water before, provides pharmacy services tolong-term care facilities. In this lawsuit, it's accused ofallowing its pharmacies to dispense prescription drugs to elderlyand disabled residents even though prescriptions had expired orwere out of refills.
|Related: Walgreens to pay $269 million over insulin fraudallegations
|U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan said in a statement,"Omnicare put at risk the health of tens of thousands of elderlyand disabled individuals living in assisted living and otherresidential long-term care facilities."
|The lawsuit alleges that from 2010 to 2018, insteadof getting new prescriptions from patients' doctors, Omnicare'spharmacies just "rolled over" the prescriptions by automaticallyassigning a new prescription number, refills and prescription date.Then it billed Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare for the illegallydispensed drugs, which included antipsychotics, anticonvulsants andcardiovascular drugs and other medications.
|The U.S. has intervened in two whistleblower lawsuits againstOmnicare, and seeks treble damages and civil penalties.
|Berman's statement says in part, "A pharmacy's fundamentalobligation is to ensure that drugs are dispensed only under thesupervision of treating doctors who monitor patients' drugtherapies. Omnicare blatantly ignored this obligation in favor ofpushing drugs out the door as quickly as possible to make moremoney." The Modern Healthcare report adds that Omnicare allegedlyallowed prescriptions to roll over in at least 1,766 residentialliving facilities.
|In a statement e-mailed to Modern Healthcare, a CVS Healthspokesman said the claims had no merit, writing, "We are confidentthat Omnicare's dispensing practices will be found to be consistentwith state requirements and industry-accepted practices."
|Earlier suits included one in 2012 that resulted in the companypaying $50 million to settle U.S. Justice Department claims thatits pharmacies had dispensed controlled substances to long-termcare facility residents without valid prescriptions, and in 2016 a$28.1 million settlement on allegations that it requested andaccepted kickbacks from Abbott Laboratories to promote thedrugmaker's epilepsy drug to nursing home residents.
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