Teva Settles Medicaid Fraud Cases For $78 Million
By Lori Clapper, Web Editor
Teva Pharmaceuticals and its affiliates will pay around $78 million to settle Medicaid fraud cases in Florida and Texas.
According to a report from the Associated Press, Teva owes the state of Florida $27 million for inflated medication prices. The Medicaid program will be given $7.1 million, and the state's general fund will receive $3.5 million for their losses. Ven-a-Care, an industry whistleblower program in Florida, exposed the alleged scheme earlier this year.
In a related story, Houston Community Newspapers reports Texas will receive $51.4 million in damages from Teva. Texas took legal action in 2007 against Teva and two other companies. Teva was the first to settle. The three-year investigation found that these companies sold Medicaid-covered drugs to pharmacies including Wal-Mart, CVS, and Walgreens, at deep discounts, but concealed this pricing information from Medicaid. This misled state officials about current market prices for the drugs, resulting in the states' Medicaid programs overpaying millions in reimbursements.