Walgreens Must Face Whistleblowers’ Pennsylvania Medicaid Claim

Two whistleblowers may continue to argue that Walgreen Co. violated the False Claims Act by billing Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program for drug prescriptions without ensuring beneficiaries lacked other available insurance coverage, a district court ruled.

Juliet Mbabazi, a pharmacist, and Khaldoun Cherdoud, a Medicaid beneficiary, adequately alleged that Walgreens didn’t satisfy its implied promise to comply with Medicaid rules affecting its fee-for-service program that require making reasonable efforts to identify and use other available medical resources before billing Medicaid, Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a Wednesday decision.

The ...