A pharmaceutical distributor agreed to pay millions to resolve allegations it paid kickbacks to physician practices, and the whistleblowers are walking away with nearly 20 percent of the settlement.
Four details:
1. Cardinal Health is accused of paying upfront discounts to physician practice customers that were not attributable to identifiable sales or were rebates the customers had not earned.
2. Distributors can offer commercially available discounts to customers that meet certain criteria, but Cardinal Health's arrangements did not, according to a Jan. 31 Justice Department news release.
3. Cardinal agreed to pay $13.1 million to resolve the claims, according to the Justice Department.
4. The allegations were initially brought by a whistleblower lawsuit, and the whistleblowers will get around $2.6 million.