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TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum announced today that Florida entered into a $27 million settlement agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals and its corporate affiliates to resolve claims of Medicaid fraud. The settlement, which partially resolves two Leon County Medicaid fraud lawsuits, was negotiated by the Attorney General’s Complex Civil Enforcement Bureau. As part of the settlement, the State of Florida’s general revenue fund will receive nearly $3.5 million

“Medicaid fraud costs the taxpayers of Florida, and my Medicaid Fraud Control Unit will continue aggressively pursuing those who commit this fraud against our state,” said Attorney General McCollum.

The settlement resolves the allegations against the Teva Pharmaceutical group of companies that allegedly engaged in a practice of knowingly setting and reporting inflated prices for medications dispensed by pharmacies and other providers who were then reimbursed by the Florida Medicaid program. The Medicaid program sets the reimbursement rates it pays to Medicaid providers based upon the prices reported by drug manufacturers. By reporting inflated prices, the drug manufacturers caused the Florida Medicaid Program to overpay millions of dollars in pharmacy reimbursements.

In addition to the deposit into the state’s general revenue fund, the Florida Medicaid Fraud Informant Reward Program will receive over $387,000 to fund rewards for persons who report and provide information relating to Medicaid fraud. The Agency for Health Care Administration, which is responsible for administering the Medicaid Program, will receive more than $7.1 million for the losses sustained by the Medicaid program. The remaining funds from the settlement will be paid directly from the settlement to the federal government and to the Relator, Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys.

The allegations constitute violations of the Florida False Claims Act and were originally filed by whistleblower Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, Inc. on behalf of the State of Florida. The Attorney General’s office investigated the claims and subsequently intervened in the lawsuits. The Leon County cases are ongoing against four other pharmaceutical companies, Mylan Laboratories, Actavis, Inc., Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sandoz Pharmaceuticals.

The Attorney General’s Complex Civil Enforcement Bureau, part of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, investigates and litigates allegations and claims of Medicaid civil fraud. Since the inception of the Bureau in May 2007, the Attorney General’s Office has obtained more than $275 million in civil recoveries.