A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against PharMerica Corporation who is accused of violating the Controlled Substances Act by dispensing Schedule II controlled drugs without a valid prescription and violating the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to Medicare for these improperly dispensed drugs,
$4.3 million is the whistleblower's share of the settlement.
The original whistleblower case was filed in 2009 and alleged that PharMerica pharmacies operating across the country routinely dispensed Schedule II controlled drugs in non-emergency situations without first obtaining a written prescription from a treating physician. According to the complaint, PharMerica’s actions violated the Controlled Substances Act by enabling nursing home staff to order narcotics, and pharmacists to dispense them, without confirming that a physician had made a medical judgment as to whether the narcotics were necessary and should be administered to the resident.
The government’s complaint also alleged that PharMerica violated the False Claims Act by knowingly causing the submission of false claims to Medicare Part D for improperly dispensed Schedule II drugs.
