Whistleblowers Uncover Deceptive Practices
The lawsuit was fueled by whistleblower complaints from Donna Chambers and Irene Gendel, both longtime Walgreens employees. Chambers, a pharmacy manager, and Gendel, a staff pharmacist, detailed multiple fraudulent practices beyond price inflation—including misuse of the federal 340B drug discount program and overbilling for insulin pen needles.
Their lawsuit alleged that Walgreens engaged in:
🔹 Improper 340B Drug Dispensing – Walgreens allegedly diverted discounted 340B drugs meant for low-income patients and dispensed them to ineligible customers, all while failing to bill partner hospitals—Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Tufts Medical Center, and Boston Medical Center—for the drugs.
🔹 Overbilling for Insulin Pen Needles – The company submitted excessive reimbursement claims for insulin needles, exploiting billing loopholes that led Medicaid and insurers to pay for more needles than patients actually needed.
🔹 Automatic 90-Day Prescription Switching – Walgreens converted patients’ prescriptions to 90-day supplies without medical justification, a practice that allegedly inflated costs for government healthcare programs.
The whistleblowers claim Walgreens had detailed internal records proving these practices were widespread.
