CVS agrees to pay $ 12 million in Massachusetts to settle complaints on the over-lamp of Medicaid

Diving brief:

• CVS has agreed to pay $ 12.3 million in the Massachusetts Medicaid program to settle allegations that the company’s pharmacy service manager overloaded the state for prescription drugs.
• The regulations were disclosed Thursday by the Attorney General of Massachusetts. It reports a closed complaint that the state brought in April, accusing the pharmacy chain of providing lower drug prices to customers paying in cash, but by invoicing higher rates Masshealth, violating regulations on state prices.
• CVS has also agreed to review its prescription drug prices each year to ensure that it does not surface the program.

Diving insight:

In 1995, Masshealth adopted a policy of pricing drugs granting the Medicaid program to the lowest prices for prescription drugs that pharmacies like CVS invoice or accept other payers.

However, CVS did not give Masshealth its best prices, especially for generic drugs, for years, according to the state trial. Instead, the company has followed a contract with a prescription savings company called Scriptsave to divide drug reduction cards to consumers – which allowed them to receive prices lower than CVS billed the Massachusetts for its members of Medicaid.

“When the pharmacies on charge Masshealth, they undermine the integrity of our public programs and let taxpayers pay the bill,” said Andrea Joy Campbell, the Attorney General of Massachusetts, in a statement. “I am proud to announce this regulation, which will prevent future inaccurate price reports and guarantee that Masshealth has the resources it needs to continue to serve the residents of Massachusetts.”

Campbell was joined by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Indiana and Oklahoma in filing the trial, which stems from a complaint.

A spokesperson for the CVS said that the company was “pleased to resolve” the case with the Massachusetts and planned to continue to defend its practices against the other complainants.

“The agreement is not an admission of reprehensible responsibility or acts and has been agreed to avoid the time and the costs of new disputes with the Massachusetts,” they said by email. “We will continue to defend vigorously against complaints concerning the usual and usual prices of CVS pharmacy brought by the complainants remaining in the case.”

The $ 12 million regulation is barely a wrist slap for the diversified health company, which brought in $ 373 billion in revenues and $ 4.6 billion in profits last year.

However, it is the last in a series of recent fines. In August and July, CVS was sentenced to a penalty of 290 million dollars and a penalty of $ 949 million respectively for having pretended the United States Government for prescription drugs. CVS uses two judgments.