CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co. is under federal investigation for alleged False Claims Act violations in its opioid dispensing practices, according to newly filed court records.
This is not Kroger’s first legal issue with opioid distribution.
There have been broader opioid-related settlements the supermarket chain has already reached with states.
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that Kroger, which has pharmacies in many of its stores, submitted false claims to government healthcare programs like Medicare for opioids and other drugs that were not “reasonable, necessary, or eligible for coverage,” court records show.
This is all revealed in court filings made public Thursday as the DOJ asked the court to order Kroger to fully cooperate with the probe and respond to its Civil Investigative Demand.
Specifically, federal prosecutors want a judge to require Kroger to turn over patient names and other health information they say Kroger redacted from its responses to the DOJ, court records show.
“The Department of Justice may obtain patient information in its role as a health oversight agency, and there is no legal basis for Kroger to withhold such information,” federal prosecutors wrote in their request to the court.
“Nevertheless, Kroger has refused the United States’ repeated requests for unredacted disclosure and has taken the position that it generally declines to produce (the protected health data) absent a court order.”
FOX19...
CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co. is under federal investigation for alleged False Claims Act violations in its opioid dispensing practices, according to newly filed court record...