Drug distributor to pay $13M to settle kickback allegations
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/01/2022 (1713 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
BOSTON (AP) — Pharmaceutical distributor Cardinal Health Inc. has agreed to pay more than $13 million to resolve allegations that it violated federal law by paying kickbacks to some doctors’ offices, federal authorities said Monday.
Cardinal Health induced physician practices to buy medications from Cardinal rather than from competitors by paying those practices in advance of any drug purchases, and not in connection with any specific purchases, according to the settlement.
Those upfront payments “either were not attributable to identifiable sales of pharmaceutical products or were purported rebates that the customers had not actually earned,” the settlement said.
A voicemail seeking comment was left with a spokesperson for Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health.
The payments were a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits pharmaceutical distributors from offering or paying compensation to induce physicians to purchase drugs for use by Medicare patients, authorities said.
“Cardinal Health thought it hit upon a surefire moneymaker by paying kickbacks to doctors, which cost health benefit programs millions of dollars in potentially fraudulent claims,” Joseph Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office said in a statement.
The payments were made to more than three dozen physician practices across the nation from February 2013 until mid-January, authorities said.
The settlement resolves allegations originally brought in lawsuits filed by whistleblowers under a legal provision that allows private parties to sue on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery. Those whistleblowers will receive about $2.6 million of the settlement.
“Cardinal Health recruited new customers by offering and paying cash bonuses in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act. Kickback schemes, such as this one, have the potential to pervert clinical decision making and are detrimental to our federal health care system and taxpayers,” said Rachael Rollins, U.S. attorney for Boston.
