Missouri gets $2.5 million in Medicaid fraud settlement

Four pharmaceutical companies will be making payments to the state of Missouri as part of a nationwide settlement.

The companies will pay a total of $124 million to settle accusations that they violated the False Claims Act. Missouri's share of the settlement will be $2.5 million, according to a statement issued Monday by the office of Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster,

According to Koster's office, Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., UDL Laboratories Inc., AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP and Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc. were the companies involved in the settlement. All four take part in the Medicaid Rebate Program and are required to pay quarterly rebates to the program.

The statement said each of the four companies paid their rebates but used the wrong classification for some drugs that were manufactured by outside companies. The companies classified "innovator" drugs as "noninnovator" drugs, which the attorney general's office said caused them to underpay.

"Medicaid fraud costs the state of Missouri tens of millions of dollars each year," Koster said in the statement.

The attorney general's Medicaid fraud unit claims to have collected more than $77 million dollars since the beginning of the year.[[In-content Ad]]