Walmart Beats Whistleblower’s Opiate Prescription Fraud Claims

A whistleblower failed to adequately allege Walmart violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare or Medicaid for opiate prescriptions he believed would have harmed patients, the Sixth Circuit affirmed Friday.

Former Walmart pharmacist Ashwani Sheoran didn’t show Walmart presented any claims for payment to a federal health-care program, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said in a nonprecedential opinion.

Sheoran argued that because some payments on a medical expenses summary were for $1 to $2, patients must have received government reimbursement through Medicare or Medicaid. But this “bare-bones assertion” is insufficient to show presentment of a ...