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Nursing Home Pharmacy to Pay $28M to Settle Kickback Allegations

The nation’s largest nursing home pharmacy, Omnicare Inc., has agreed to pay $28.125 million to resolve allegations that it solicited and received kickbacks from pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott Laboratories in exchange for promoting the prescription drug, Depakote, for nursing home patients.

Omnicare, the largest provider of pharmaceutical services in nursing homes, operates 160 locations in assisted living and long-term care facilities in 47 states.

“Every day, elderly nursing home residents suffering from dementia rely on the independent judgment of our nation’s healthcare professionals for their personal care and their medical treatment,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.  “Kickbacks to entities making drug recommendations compromise their independence and undermine their role in protecting nursing home residents from the use of unnecessary drugs.”

The settlement resolves allegations that Omnicare solicited and received kickbacks from Abbott in exchange for recommending that physicians prescribe Depakote, an anti-epileptic drug manufactured by Abbott, to elderly nursing home residents.

Disguised kickbacks

Omnicare disguised the kickbacks it received from Abbott as “grants” and “educational funding,” even though their true purpose was to induce Omnicare to recommend Depakote.

For example, Omnicare allegedly solicited substantial contributions from Abbott and other pharmaceutical manufacturers to its “Re*View” program.  Although Omnicare claimed that Re*View was a “health management” and “educational” program, the complaint alleges that it was simply a means by which Omnicare solicited kickbacks from pharmaceutical manufacturers in exchange for increasing the utilization of their drugs on elderly nursing home residents.

In internal documents, Omnicare allegedly referred to Re*View as its “one extra script per patient” program.  The complaint also alleges that Omnicare entered into agreements with Abbott by which Omnicare was entitled to increasing levels of rebates from Abbott based on the number of nursing home residents serviced and the amount of Depakote prescribed per resident.  Finally, the complaint alleges that Abbott funded Omnicare management meetings on Amelia Island, Florida, offered tickets to sporting events to Omnicare management and made other payments to local Omnicare pharmacies.

“This settlement ensures that some of the most vulnerable amongst us, those suffering from dementia, are provided with the level of care they deserve,” said U.S. Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. for the Western District of Virginia.  “Families and loved ones who make the difficult decision to place those they care about into a nursing home must do so with the confidence that medical decisions are being made with the interests of the patient in mind, not big drug companies.”

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.  The Medicaid program is jointly funded by the federal and state governments.

The cases are captioned United States ex rel. Spetter v. Abbott Labs., et al., Case No. 10-cv-00006 (W.D. Va.) and United States ex rel. McCoyd v. Abbott Labs., et al., Case No. 07-cv-00081 (W.D. Va.).  The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

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