Walgreens Beats Justice Department Virginia Medicaid Fraud Suit

Walgreen Co. convinced a district court to dismiss a False Claims Act suit alleging that it bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from Virginia’s Medicaid program by submitting false claims for hepatitis C drugs.

Federal and Virginia prosecutors failed to sufficiently allege that a former Walgreen employee’s false records led to payments for medically unnecessary prescriptions, James P. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia said in a Dec. 3 opinion.

The “employee’s dishonesty and misconduct are regrettable,” but the complaint’s allegations show Walgreens received payment for medications that had been properly prescribed to Virginia ...