McKesson Pays Wisconsin $14M Over Inflated Pricing Charges

Yet another settlement has been reached in litigation over average wholesale pricing and Medicaid fraud. In the latest deal, Wisconsin will receive nearly $14 million from McKesson, the pharmaceutical wholesaler, and First DataBank, which publishes prices that are used by most state Medicaid programs to set payment rates for pharmaceuticals. The state had filed a lawsuit a year ago that claimed the companies violated the Wisconsin Medicaid fraud statute, Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and False Claims Act by inflating reported prices for more than 1,700 brand-name drugs in order to increase pharmacy reimbursement from the Wisconsin Medicaid program. As a result, the state program overpaid by “tens of millions of dollars" (here is the lawsuit). “By causing inflated drug prices to be reported and published and concealing that information, McKesson and First DataBank knew that the program would overpay for pharmaceuticals,”Wisconson Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen says in a statement. In addition to the $13.9 million that McKesson will pay the state, First DataBank agreed to provide $277,000 in credits. We asked McKesson and First DataBank for comment and will update you accordingly. [UPDATE: A McKesson spokesperson sends us this: "Given the inherent uncertainty of litigation, we determined that this settlement was in the best interest of our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders.  We continue to believe that the AWP claims against McKesson are without merit....
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs