DOJ accuses CVS of billing government for illegal opioid prescriptions

The Justice Department (DOJ) on Wednesday announced a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical chain CVS, accusing it of filling vast amounts of illegal opioid prescriptions and then billing it to the federal government.

The department claimed that the company, beginning in October of 2013, contributed to the opioid epidemic by ignoring red flags on prescriptions, filling dangerous quantities of opioids and dangerous combinations of drugs, which was then billed to the federal government.

The lawsuit was unsealed on Wednesday, but was filed in a federal court in Rhode Island last week, according to Reuters.

The DOJ also accused the company of maintaining inadequate staffing, pushing its pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly without allowing time to investigate whether they were legitimate, and ignoring warnings from its employees.

"The practices alleged contributed to the opioid crisis and opioid-related deaths, and today’s complaint seeks to hold CVS accountable for its misconduct," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said in a statement. 

CVS has denied any wrongdoing and claimed that it has worked with the Justice Department in its years-long investigation.

“We have cooperated with the DOJ’s investigation for more than four years, and we strongly disagree with the allegations and false narrative within this complaint,” CVS said in a statement.

The case, which stems from a whistleblower complaint, alleged that the chain continued to fill hundreds of prescriptions for one Alabama doctor in 2015 despite warnings that he was under investigation. He was later arrested in 2016. 

The chain also allegedly continued to fill thousands of prescriptions for a doctor in Pennsylvania, despite warnings that he was under investigation and reviews from patients that he filled prescriptions without seeing the patient first.

“Safety issues arise when one is dealing with medication and also being rushed to fulfill an order like McDonald’s,” one employee allegedly wrote. “CVS has concocted an assembly-line style of medication preparation and only cares about profits.”

The lawsuit comes after CVS agreed to pay nearly $5 billion in 2022 to settle thousands of lawsuits brought by state, local and Native American tribal governments. The company did not admit to any wrongdoing in the deal.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.