A Medicaid fraud claim under a federal whistleblower law, the False Claims Act, has been settled for $27.1 million with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israel-based company. The basis for the Medicaid fraud claims were alleged kickback payments by Teva to a Chicago-area psychiatrist, Michael Reinstein, to prescribe a generic drug clozapine rather than the more-widely prescribed Clozaril, both of which are anti-psychotic drugs. After the payments started, Dr. Reinstein became the Nation's most prolific prescriber of clozapine. The State of Illinois will receive $15 million of the settlement and the federal government $12.1 million.
Source: Chicago Tribune - Teva Settles Medicaid False Billing Case Tied to a Chicago Doctor.
The federal False Claims Act outlaws kickback payments by a drug company to a doctor made to induce the doctor to prescribe the company's drugs where those prescriptions are paid for by Medicaid or Medicare. A whistleblower can file suit under the False Claims Act and recover the monies wrongly paid out while keeping 15-25% of the total.
Lexington, Kentucky Medicaid and Medicare fraud lawyer Robert Abell represents whistleblowers in cases under the False Claims Act; contact him at 859-254-7076.
