Indiana Medicaid recovers $126,000 in lawsuit settlement

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Indiana’s Medicaid program will receive more than $126,000 from a drug manufacturer that filed false claims to Medicaid and other federally funded health care programs.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced Monday that the settlement with Indiana, 48 other states and the federal government will resolve five lawsuits against the pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo Inc.

The suits claim the company paid doctors kickbacks to prescribe drugs it manufactured. These prescription claims were then submitted to Medicaid.

Zoeller said the company’s effort to persuade doctors to overlook their medical judgment was a blatant violation of trust and the settlement will force the company to repay the public funds it owes.

The New Jersey-based company will pay state Medicaid programs and the federal government a total of $39 million in civil penalties.