Jun 122014

Court Holds that Pharmacy Cannot Be Liable Under the FCA for Filling “Off-Label” Prescriptions

Jaime L.M. Jones and Catherine Y. Starks
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Posted by Jaime Jones and Catherine Starks

A federal district court in Georgia recently granted summary judgment in favor of Omnicare, Inc. in a qui tam suit asserting FCA liability against the specialty pharmacy for purportedly dispensing atypical antipsychotics for off-label uses and seeking Medicare Part D reimbursement for those prescriptions. United States ex rel. Fox Rx, Inc. v. Omnicare, Inc., No. 1:11-cv-962-WSD (N.D. Ga. May 23, 2014).

The relator, a Medicare Part D plan sponsor, alleged that Omnicare had actual or constructive knowledge that it was submitting “false” claims for off-label, non-reimbursable, uses because Omnicare’s consultant pharmacists regularly reviewed patient records and recorded diagnosis information in Omnicare’s computer system. In a previous post, we reported that this court earlier ruled that Part D does not cover off-label uses of drugs that are not for “medically accepted indications.” See http://fcablog.sidley.com/blog.aspx?entry=95&fromSearch=true. In ruling on the summary judgment motion, the court rejected the notion that there was evidence that Omnicare acted “knowingly” with respect to the off-label and non-reimbursable nature of the claims, finding that there was no proof that Omnicare’s dispensing pharmacists had actual knowledge of or even access to this patient diagnosis information. The court also held that even if the pharmacists had accessed the diagnosis information, there was still no evidence that they knew the diagnoses were not for medically-accepted indications, and thus not subject to reimbursement by Medicare. Moreover, the court held that there was no duty for Omnicare or its pharmacists to make this determination (such as by reviewing the label for FDA approval of the specific use or referring to Medicare Part D- recognized compendia to determine whether the use was supported and therefore properly reimbursable).

This case has important implications for specialty pharmacies and similarly situated parties that are implicated in cases alleging the submission of claims for off-label use of drugs, and supports the argument that dispensing pharmacists do not have a duty to evaluate whether a drug has been prescribed for an on-label or otherwise medically accepted indication prior to submitting a claim for reimbursement to the federal healthcare programs.

Jaime L.M. Jones

Chicago

jaimejones@sidley.com

Catherine Y. Starks

Chicago

cstarks@sidley.com

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