Compliance December 19, 2011

CVS Settles Pension Funds’ Suits for $20M

December 19, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - CVS Caremark Corp. has agreed to pay nearly $20 million to settle three lawsuits involving allegations that the company defrauded pension systems in three states.
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The whistleblower lawsuits, filed by two former CVS Caremark pharmacists, accused the company of reselling returned drugs, changing prescription orders to make them more expensive and submitting false reports about how long it took to fill prescriptions, according to the Los Angeles Times.  

Under terms of the settlements, CVS Caremark will pay nearly $7 million to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), $4 million to the state of Illinois and $3 million to the state of Florida. Other money from the settlement went to plaintiff attorneys’ fees and costs, attorneys said in a news release.  

CVS Caremark did not immediately respond to the Times’ request for comment.  

The news report said that despite the allegations, CalPERS agreed in June to pay CVS Caremark $575 million per year to provide prescription drug benefits to 346,000 members.

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