CVS Health Corp. and Omnicare fraudulently billed Medicare and other federal programs for filling expired prescriptions for the nation’s elderly and disabled, according to authorities.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court accused the health care giants of illegally dispensing tens of thousands of pills to people living in long-term care or other assisted living facilities.
Instead of seeking new prescriptions between 2010 and 2018, Omnicare would assign new prescription numbers when the original prescription ran out of refills, the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office claims in its complaint.
“A pharmacy’s fundamental obligation is to ensure that drugs are dispensed only under the supervision of treating doctors who monitor patients’ drug therapies,” US Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan said in a statement. “Omnicare put at risk the health of tens of thousands of elderly and disabled individuals living in assisted living and other residential long-term care facilities.”
Court papers say the drugs were anti-psychotics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants and other medications that require supervision by a physician.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and civil penalties — and joins another whistleblower action filed against Omnicare in June 2015 by a pharmacist who worked for the company.
“We are confident that Omnicare’s dispensing practices will be found to be consistent with state requirements and industry-accepted practices,” the company said in a statement.