Minnesota recoups $3.1 million in fraud, deceptive-marketing claims
The Minnesota attorney general’s office said it has recouped $3.1 million after settling three multi-state, health care-related fraud and deceptive marketing claims involving Walgreens and Johnson & Johnson.
In the first case, Walgreens was accused of dispensing hundreds of thousands more insulin pens than needed to beneficiaries of Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs, then improperly billed those programs for them. The company will pay out $209 million nationally, including more than $761,000 to Minnesota’s Medicaid program, according to a statement from Keith Ellison’s office.
In the second, Walgreens was accused of overbilling Medicaid by failing to disclose and charge Medicaid the lower drug prices it offered the public through a discount program. The company will pay out a total of $60 million to 39 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government. Minnesota’s Medicaid program will recoup more than $212,000, Ellison’s office said.
In the third settlement, Ellison and 45 other attorneys general reached a $120 million settlement with Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, DePuy, to resolve allegations that DePuy used “unfair and deceptive” practices to make misleading claims about the longevity of its metal-on-metal hip-implant devices. The attorneys general said the devices failed faster than the company claimed.
Read more: https://www.twincities.com/2019/01/24/minnesota-ag-keith-ellison-recoups-3-1-million-in-fraud-deceptive-marketing-claims-walgreens/