The nation's largest nursing home pharmacy received kickbacks from Abbott Laboratories in exchange for promoting the prescription drug Depakote, says the Department of Justice.
Omnicare Inc., will pay $28.1 million to resolve whistleblower claims that it asked for and got kickbacks from Abbott Laboratories to promote the anti-epileptic drug Depakote to nursing home patients, the Department of Justice announced Monday.
"It is disturbing that any healthcare corporation would pay kickbacks that corrupt the professional medical decision making process in order to pad their profits," said Special Agent in Charge Nicholas DiGiulio of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. "These practices are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
The government complaint said Omnicare hid the illicit payments from Abbott in a variety of ways, such as calling the lucre "grants" and "educational funding." In one instance, investigators said Omnicare solicited money from Abbott and other pharmaceutical manufacturers to its "Re*View" program.
Omnicare claimed that Re*View was a "health management" and "educational" program, but investigators said it was a way for Omnicare to solicit kickbacks from drug makers to use their drugs on nursing home residents. In internal documents, Omnicare referred to Re*View as its "one extra script per patient" program.
The complaint also alleges that Omnicare conspired with Abbott to increasing rebates based on the number of nursing home residents serviced and the amount of Depakote prescribed per resident.
The complaint further alleges that Abbott paid for Omnicare management junkets on Amelia Island, FL, provided tickets to sporting events for Omnicare executives, and made other payments to local Omnicare pharmacies.
The allegations predate by six years the $12.9 billion acquisition of Ohio-based Omnicare by CVS Health Corporation in August, 2015.
In a statement Monday, Woonsocket, RI-based CVS Health stressed that the scheme "involved Omnicare only and no allegations were made against any of CVS Health's other businesses, including CVS Pharmacy and CVS Caremark. CVS Health is committed to the highest standards of ethics and business practices and there was no admission of wrongdoing. The Company agreed to settle this matter to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation."
Approximately $20.3 million of the settlement will go to the United States, while $7.8 million has been allocated to cover Medicaid program claims by states that elect to participate in the settlement.
In May 2012, the United States, numerous states and Abbott entered into a $1.5 billion global civil and criminal settlement that resolved Abbott's liability under the False Claims Act for alleged kickbacks to nursing home pharmacies, including Omnicare and PharMerica Corp.
In October 2015, PharMerica agreed to pay $9.25 million to the United States and numerous states to resolve civil liability under the False Claims Act for the alleged kickbacks from Abbott. The settlement announced today resolves Omnicare's role in that alleged kickback scheme.