AstraZeneca to pay $34 million to settle Texas Medicaid kickback claims
AstraZeneca agreed to pay $34 million to resolve kickback allegations brought by the Texas attorney general, who accused the company of improperly influencing prescriptions paid for by the state’s Medicaid program.
According to the state, AstraZeneca supplied free nursing and insurance-support services that handled tasks physicians would otherwise perform or pay staff to do. Texas argued those complimentary services functioned as an inducement, prompting pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers, and others to submit claims that caused the program to pay out millions in unauthorized reimbursements under the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act.
Settlements of this kind let drugmakers close out state fraud actions without admitting wrongdoing, and the size here is modest relative to AstraZeneca’s revenue. The recurring pattern — value-added “support” programs that double as prescription drivers — is what state enforcers continue to target.