Just weeks after the Department of Justice announced its new effort that would reward health care whistleblowers, Walgreens has agreed to pay $106.8 million to resolve three cases filed by whistleblowers alleging violations of the False Claims Act and state statutes.

Between 2009 and 2020, Walgreens submitted false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs for prescriptions that it processed but that were never picked up by beneficiaries, the DOJ alleges.. As a result, Walgreens received tens of millions of dollars for prescriptions that it never actually provided to health care beneficiaries.

In January 2020, Walgreens disclosed to the government "that issues with its billing systems and practices" had led to billed prescriptions for which it should not have received payment. Generally, pharmacies return uncollected prescriptions to stock and cancel the order after 10-14 days.