Anyone else hear that we are charged in a lawsuit for Medicaid fraud? Very recent...big fines from government and higher quotas/less bonus for all!
YAWN... Try something novel rather than trying to scare people with things that happened to other companies years ago... Corporate may be full of arrogant asses who make idiotic marketing decisions, but they're ridiculously meticulous when it comes to legal matters.
rugmakers Charged With Defrauding Medicaid 12 Comments By Ed Silverman // October 5th, 2011 // 7:38 am money-ben-franklinsMore than a dozen drugmakers have been named in a whistleblower lawsuit that charges they concocted various schemes to underpay rebates to numerous state Medicaid programs over the past seven years. And the complaint was filed by the former head of a major trade group that represents healthcare products distributors. The lawsuit was originally filed three years ago, but was recently unsealed after the feds declined to intervene. Nonetheless, Ronald Streck, a lawyer and pharmacist who spent more than a decade as executive director of the Healthcare Distribution Management Association, is pressing the case in federal court in Philadelphia. Two dozen states and the District of Columbia have joined the case as plaintiffs. The lawsuit alleges that the drugmakers - Allergan; Amgen; AstraZeneca; Biogen; Bradley Pharmaceuticals; Nycomed US; Cephalon; Eisai; Genzyme; Mallinckrodt; Novo Nordisk; Reliant Pharmaceuticals; Sepracor; Sunovion Pharmaceuticals and Upsher-Smith Laboratories - relied on two methods to manipulate average manufacturer prices and bolster their bottom lines. Here’s how Streck alleges this worked: The drugmakers entered into service fee agreements with wholesalers in which the drugmakers paid fees in exchange for certain services. The drugmakers then reduced the AMPs reported to Medicaid in one of two ways. Several drugmakers treated the service fees as discounts, and did not report the fees, which was a way of lowering the reported AMP. Other drugmakers properly categorized the services fees, excluding them from their AMP calculations, but then offset various price increases against the service fees. Then, Streck alleges, they did not include the price increases in their AMP calculations. Either way, the drugmakers allegedly used fraudulent means to underpay Medicaid, the lawsuit charges (here is the lawsuit). This is only the latest lawsuit to charge drugmakers with manipulating pricing and, subsequently, causing Medicaid programs to pay incorrect amounts for medicines. Many have involved average wholesale pricing, although the effect has, essentially, been to add to healthcare costs (examples can be seen here and here).
Prescription Drug Manufacturers Underpaid Medicaid Rebates, Federal and State Whistleblower Complaint Alleges 0 0 0 PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According to a multi-count whistleblower action, alleging violations of federal and state False Claims Acts ("FCA"), more than a dozen top brand-name prescription drug manufacturers in the United States allegedly underpaid rebates to State Medicaid programs over the past seven years. On October 3, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania notified the parties that the whistleblower's Motion for Leave to File the Fourth Amended Complaint ("Complaint") was granted. The Complaint alleges that the defendant pharmaceutical manufacturers manipulated pricing data they report to the government and on which their rebate obligations on drugs they sell through State Medicaid programs are based. The defendants, the Complaint alleges, understated their reported average manufacturer prices ("AMP"), on which their rebate obligations to the state Medicaid programs are calculated. Improperly lowering AMP reduces rebates owed on high-priced pharmaceuticals, in turn, increasing the healthcare burden of the federal and state governments. Beginning in 2004, the Complaint alleges, the defendant pharmaceutical manufacturers began entering into service fee agreements with drug wholesalers. Drug manufacturers paid fees in exchange for certain services that the drug wholesalers provided. With respect to the service fees they paid, the defendants improperly reduced the AMPs they reported to the government in one of two ways. Several defendants treated the service fees they paid as discounts, improperly excluding them from and, in turn, lowering the AMPs they reported to the government. Other defendants properly categorized the services fees as bona fide, excluding them from their AMP calculations. Those defendants, however, offset certain price increases on their products against those service fees, failing to include those material price increases in their AMP calculations. Under both scenarios, the Complaint alleges, by understating their reported AMPs, the defendants fraudulently underpaid rebates they owed to the States' Medicaid programs. The Complaint names as defendants various large drug manufacturers whose brand-name prescription drug sales represent a substantial segment of brand-name prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. through Medicaid programs. The defendants include: Allergan, Inc., Amgen, Inc., AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Biogen Idec, Inc., Bradley Pharmaceuticals, Inc. n/k/a Nycomed US, Inc., Cephalon, Inc., Eisai, Inc., Genzyme Corporation, Mallinckrodt, Inc., Novo Nordisk, Inc., Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sepracor, n/k/a Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc. The Relator is Ronald J. Streck, an attorney and pharmacist from Virginia who, for more than a decade, headed the National Healthcare Distribution Management Association. The law firms of Berger & Montague, P.C., and Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP represent the Relator. While the federal government and the states have declined to intervene in this action, the whistleblower's legal team will prosecute the case against the defendants. Berger & Montague, P.C. is a nationally known Philadelphia law firm that has successfully represented whistleblowers for more than a decade, and Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, of New York City and Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, a national law firm, concentrates its practice on complex civil and class action litigation. The Berger & Montague team includes Daniel R. Miller, a former Delaware deputy attorney general and former past-president of the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units. Mr. Miller has tried more than 125 cases to jury verdict. Miller stated that "the government relies on manufacturers accurately to self-report pricing data on the drugs they sell through the States' Medicaid programs. In this case, the manufacturer defendants knowingly failed to provide the government with accurate pricing data. Our team is committed to this litigation, and we are prepared to prosecute these claims to the fullest extent of the law." According to Faruqi & Faruqi lead attorney Jacob Goldberg, "in addition to zealously advocating our client's claims on behalf of the cash-strapped federal and state governments, we intend to continue investigating the industry's reporting of pricing data to ensure full compliance with the law. Now that this case is public, we encourage individuals with knowledge of this allegedly wrongful conduct to contact us." Prosecuting this case along with Messrs. Miller and Goldberg are Todd Collins, Joy Clairmont, and Shauna Itri from Berger & Montague; and Nadeem Faruqi, Kendall Zylstra and Richard Schwartz from Faruqi & Faruqi. The Relator filed his Complaint under seal on Oct. 28, 2008. Under the FCAs, private citizens with knowledge of fraud may help the government recover ill-gotten gains and additional civil penalties. Case Caption: U.S. ex rel. Streck v. Allergan, et al., C.A. No. 08-5135 (U.S.D.C. E.D. Pa.). Berger & Montague, P.C. With more than 60 attorneys in 10 specialized practice areas, Berger & Montague, P.C., has been nationally known for decades for its skilled handling of complex and class action litigation. The Berger firm's award-winning attorneys have been involved in some of the biggest cases of their kind, and have helped secure more than $1 billion in whistleblower recoveries for federal and state governments under the False Claims Acts. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLC Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP is a national law firm, representing investors, consumers and companies in the prosecution of claims under state corporate and consumer laws, the federal securities and antitrust laws, and federal and state wage and hour laws. The firm focuses on providing exemplary legal services in complex litigation. Founded in 1995, the firm maintains its principal office in New York City, with offices in Delaware, California, Florida and Pennsylvania. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP's 30 attorneys have demonstrated a clear commitment to championing the rights of shareholders, consumers and the public nationwide. SOURCE Berger & Montague, P.
rugmakers Charged With Defrauding Medicaid 12 Comments By Ed Silverman // October 5th, 2011 // 7:38 am money-ben-franklinsMore than a dozen drugmakers have been named in a whistleblower lawsuit that charges they concocted various schemes to underpay rebates to numerous state Medicaid programs over the past seven years. And the complaint was filed by the former head of a major trade group that represents healthcare products distributors. The lawsuit was originally filed three years ago, but was recently unsealed after the feds declined to intervene. Nonetheless, Ronald Streck, a lawyer and pharmacist who spent more than a decade as executive director of the Healthcare Distribution Management Association, is pressing the case in federal court in Philadelphia. Two dozen states and the District of Columbia have joined the case as plaintiffs. The lawsuit alleges that the drugmakers - Kiss My Ass Pharmaceuticals; I Made This Up Pharmaceuticals; I Really Need to Get a Life Pharmaceteuticals; I'm a Jackass Pharmaceuticals; Sepracor; Sunovion Pharmaceuticals - relied on two methods to manipulate average manufacturer prices and bolster their bottom lines. . . . Wow!!!! It must be true!!!
