RITE AID AGREES TO REIMBURSE MARYLAND MEDICAID MORE THAN $148,000

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. and The National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) announced today that 30 state Medicaid Programs recovered over $6.6 million dollars as a result of a settlement with Rite Aid Corporation. Rite Aid, a national retail pharmacy chain, agreed to pay a total of $7 million to the federal and state governments to settle allegations under the federal False Claims Act. The total recovery also includes funds recovered by other federally funded health insurance programs.

The company is alleged to have dispensed partial or “short” prescriptions due to insufficient stock and returned unfilled medications to stock, but received full payment from government health insurance programs (Medicaid, Tricare, and the Federal Employee Health Benefit program.) Medicaid is a program jointly funded by federal and state governments that provides health insurance benefits for eligible low income beneficiaries. The state of Maryland’s Medicaid Program will recover a total of $36,995.38. The total Maryland Medicaid recovery, including both federal and state share is $148,504.46.

National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, representing the 47 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units and the District of Columbia, worked closely with numerous federal agencies, including the United States Department of Justice, and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to reach this global settlement. The agreement covers the time period of January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2001 and settles a dispute with Rite Aid originally brought in federal court in Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

The Rite Aid settlement includes a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) that will be administered by the HHS/OIG. The Corporate Integrity Agreement requires the company to modify its pharmacy billing operations to ensure future compliance with applicable laws and Medicare and Medicaid regulations, to monitor these practices for problems, and establishes sanctions for any violations.

National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units negotiating team members are the Directors of the New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania MFCU’s.

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