In Case You Missed This... 'Blowing The Whistle On Drug Firms' - LATimes

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Blowing the whistle on drug firms
A tiny pharmacy in Florida has built a lucrative niche market: filing lawsuits against drug makers that overcharge Medicare and Medicaid.
January 24, 2011
By Andrew Zajac, Washington Bureau

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Reporting from Washington — Last December, a specialty pharmacy in Florida enjoyed its best month ever — posting a hefty $168.7 million in revenues. But it wasn't filling prescriptions that made Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys Inc. such a success. Tiny Ven-A-Care has developed a lucrative niche market: blowing the whistle on drug companies that overcharge Medicare and Medicaid — and collecting tens of millions of dollars in reward money.

Unlike most whistle-blowers who help the government with one case after they encounter wrongdoing, Ven-A-Care has filed suits alleging fraudulent conduct against dozens of drug companies supplying pharmacies and healthcare providers.

The company's whistle-blowing essentially works like this: The company conducts research, comparing the prices it paid for drugs with the prices reported by drug makers to the government for reimbursement. Ven-A-Care files suit, on behalf of the government, when it spots large discrepancies between the two sets of prices.

The spreads can be dramatic.

A 2005 California suit alleged that a 1-gram vial of the antibiotic vancomycin was sold to providers for $6.29, but billed to Medi-Cal for $58.37, while 50-milligram tablets of the blood pressure medication atenolol were billed to pharmacies at $3.04 and to Medi-Cal at $70.30.

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More: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/24/nation/la-na-whistle-blower-20110124

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