Walmart to pay $500k for failing to comply with labor package. Recommended Pricing Practices

Following its recent settlement with Express Scripts, Attorney General Maura Healey’s office has announced another settlement over workers’ compensation pricing practice failures. Retail pharmacy provider Walmart, Inc. has agreed to pay $500,000 for failing to follow prevailing prescription pricing practices to reduce costs and prevent overcharging the workers’ compensation insurance system.

“Having a transparent, functional and affordable workers’ compensation system is vital to employers and workers across Massachusetts,” said AG Healy. “My office will continue to ensure that companies follow our state’s rules and regulations that guarantee the fair treatment of drug pricing in our workers’ compensation program.”

The pricing procedures required by Massachusetts regulations ensure that drug costs are reviewed against certain regulatory benchmarks. As stated therein Guarantee of terminationThe filing this week in Suffolk Superior Court alleges that from 2016 to the present, Walmart failed to follow those regulations when using prices for various injured worker prescriptions at Walmart pharmacy locations in Massachusetts.

Under Massachusetts’ workers’ compensation system, when employees are injured on the job, they are entitled to lost wages, compensation for injuries, and payments for certain injury-related expenses. The system sets limits on the cost of prescriptions for injured workers and requires companies to check prices against certain regulatory benchmarks, such as the federal upper limit for Medicare and the Massachusetts maximum allowable cost, before processing their payments.

The case is part of an ongoing review by the Attorney General’s Office of workers’ compensation program prescription pricing practices. AG Healy has now reached a settlement with Walmart. Express ScriptsOptum Rx, Walgreens, Stop & Shop, and United Pharmacy totaled $16 million for workers’ compensation drug price violations.