Hayat Pharmacy, which operates 23 pharmacy locations throughout the Milwaukee metropolitan area, will pay more than $2 million to resolve allegations it submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for various prescription medications.
In addition to paying $2 million to resolve the claims, the pharmacy chain will also conduct training concerning fraud, waste and abuse, and agreed to comply with rules related to medication switches.
Case background
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the pharmacy submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid in 2019 for a pair of prescription drugs: a multivitamin and a topical cream. In this time, Medicaid paid thousands of dollars per prescription of the cream in reimbursement, and Medicare paid hundreds of dollars per prescription for the multivitamin.
The DOJ also claimed Hayat switched Medicaid and Medicare patients to these drugs from lower-cost medications without justifying the switch in terms of medical need and without providing a prescription.
Healthcare fraud costs the United States government billions of dollars every year, and in many cases the fraud would not be uncovered without the help of brave employees and others with inside information about healthcare systems’ operations. The False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions serve as a vehicle for would-be whistleblowers to share their information, file a lawsuit on behalf of the federal government and eventually share in any recovery that occurs via monetary judgments and penalties.
If you have information about internal wrongdoing and wish to file a claim under the False Claims Act, contact an experienced whistleblower lawyer at Kardell Law Group for guidance.
