WHITESBURG, Ky. (AP) - A community health provider and a number of pharmacies in Kentucky are being sued for allegedly billing the federal government inflated prices for prescription drugs, a news report said Thursday.
The lawsuit says Mountain Comprehensive Health Corp., or MCHC, and nine pharmacies billed far more than is allowed for prescription drugs to people covered by federal insurance programs like Medicaid. The Lexington Herald Leader (https://bit.ly/1PHCMF4 ) reports that attorneys for pharmacist William R. Hall and his wife, Jennifer Hall, filed the lawsuit in July, but it was sealed until recently.
The lawsuit states that Mountain Comprehensive Health Corp. and nine pharmacies billed more than allowed for providing prescription drugs to people covered by federal insurance. The suit also alleges that the company and pharmacies charged people covered by federal programs far more than they charged patients who paid with cash.
The suit alleges, for instance, that pharmacies under contract to MCHC charged a cash patient $23 for a prescription of the acid-reflux drug Nexium but charged third-party payers, including Medicare, $196 to $199 in late 2012. The overbilling could total millions, the suit states.
“A pharmacy that charges the government a price for prescription drugs that is substantially higher than the pharmacy’s price to the general public does not provide the drugs ’economically’ to the government,” the complaint stated.
L.M. “Mike” Caudill, MCHC chief executive officer, says the company had not been served with the lawsuit and could not comment on allegations. He said, however, that the company followed the law.
“We are confident that at the end of this process it will have been demonstrated that we have conducted ourselves appropriately and in a lawful manner that has legitimately maximized our ability to care for those people who are most important to us, that being our patients,” he said.
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Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, https://www.kentucky.com
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