Walgreen to pay more than $2.85 million to settle US overbilling charges

(Reuters) -Walgreen will pay more than $2.85 million to settle whistleblower allegations that the pharmacy overbilled Medicaid programs in Georgia and Massachusetts for generic medications, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday.

The settlement partially resolves claims against the Walgreens Boots Alliance unit brought under the federal, Georgia and Massachusetts False Claims Act.

Walgreen pharmacies were accused of having from 2008 to 2023 submitted elevated “usual and customary” prices for some generic medications to the MassHealth and Georgia Medicaid programs, causing those programs to pay more for the medications than they should have.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)