Amazon's online pharmacy subsidiary, PillPack, on May 2 agreed to pay $5.8 million to the federal government and various states to settle claims that it overcharged government-run health insurance programs.
PillPack admitted to dispensing more insulin pens than patients needed according to their prescriptions, as well as falsely underreporting the days of supply of insulin dispensed, according to a Justice Department news release.
Prosecutors said PillPack would dispense insulin pens in five-pen cartons, even if this meant patients were receiving a larger supply of insulin than allowed by government-run health insurance programs.
PillPack billed for the entire carton to avoid having its claims denied and would falsely underreport how many days' supply of insulin the patient received, according to the complaint. Prosecutors said PillPack would also dispense refills before patients needed them based on the falsely reported days of supply.
The complaint did not allege that PillPack overcharged patients.