A federal judge has ordered CVS Caremark Corp., a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), to pay nearly $290 million in damages and penalties after it overcharged Medicare for prescription drugs.
In an Aug. 19 decision, Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania tripled to $285 million the original damages he ordered CVS Caremark to pay in June, citing the federal False Claims Act. He also added a $4.87 million civil fine.
Goldberg said in June that CVS was liable for $95 million in damages but deferred ruling on whether to treble this amount under the act.
Caremark argued that it should only face minimum penalties. On Tuesday, Goldberg rejected this, saying “the fraud was financially motivated” and not the result of “some innocent or mistaken belief.”…