By Forum Staff
The Justice Department on Monday announced a $300 million settlement with
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Walgreen Co. and various subsidiaries to resolve allegations that the national chain pharmacy illegally filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances in violation of the Controlled Substances Act and then sought payment for many of those invalid prescriptions by Medicare and other federal healthcare programs in violation of the False Claims Act. The settlement amount is based on Walgreens’s ability to pay. Walgreens will owe the United States an additional $50 million if the company is sold, merged, or transferred prior to fiscal year 2032.
The government’s complaint, filed on Jan. 16 and amended April 18 in the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that from approximately
August 2012 through March 1, 2023, Walgreens, one of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains, knowingly filled millions of unlawful controlled substance prescriptions. These unlawful prescriptions included prescriptions for excessive quantities of opioids, opioid prescriptions filled significantly early, and prescriptions for the especially dangerous and abused combination of three drugs known as a “trinity.” Walgreens pharmacists allegedly filled these prescriptions despite clear “red flags” indicating a high likelihood that the prescriptions were invalid because they lacked a legitimate medical purpose or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice.
The complaint further alleges that Walgreens pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly and without taking the time needed to confirm that each prescription was lawful. Walgreens’s compliance officials also allegedly ignored substantial evidence that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions and even intentionally deprived its own pharmacists of crucial information, including by refusing to share internal data regarding prescribers with pharmacists and preventing pharmacists from warning one another about certain problematic prescribers.
“Pharmacies have a legal responsibility to prescribe controlled substances in a safe and professional manner, not dispense dangerous drugs just for profit,” said U.S. Attorney
General Pamela Bondi.
In addition to the monetary payments announced on Monday, Walgreens has entered into agreements with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General to address its future obligations in dispensing controlled substances. Walgreens and DEA entered into a Memorandum of Agreement that requires the company to implement and maintain certain compliance measures for the next seven years. Walgreens must maintain policies and procedures requiring pharmacists to confirm the validity of controlled substance prescriptions prior to dispensing controlled substances, provide annual training to pharmacy employees regarding their legal obligations relating to controlled substances, verify that pharmacy staffing is sufficient to enable pharmacy employees to comply with those legal obligations, and maintain a system for blocking prescriptions from prescribers whom Walgreens becomes aware are writing illegitimate controlled substance prescriptions.
Walgreens has also entered into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement with HHS-
OIG, which further requires Walgreens to establish and maintain a compliance program that includes written policies and procedures, training, board oversight, and periodic reporting to HHS-OIG related to Walgreens’s dispensing of controlled substances.
