SALEM, Oregon, December 7 — Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum issued the following press release:
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and insurance commissioner André Stolfi jointly announced a $17 million settlement with managed healthcare giant centene regarding pharmacy services and including allegations that the company overcharged from oregon Medicaid program for pharmaceutical costs.
Specifically, centene served as both a pharmacy benefit manager and provided managed care through a subsidiary at from oregon Medicaid program. In Oregonthat managed care organization was Trillium, which largely operated out of Lane County. The investigation focused on whether centene failed to provide certain pharmacy discounts in Oregon resulting in inflated fees paid to centene.
The settlement and investigation were conducted jointly by the Oregon attorney general’s office, Consumer Services Department (DCBS) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA).
“This pharmacy partnership with centene was supposed to help some of our most vulnerable, but this company took advantage of Oregon. This settlement is another way for us to help get prescription drug prices under control,” Attorney General Rosenblum said.
Insurance Commissioner Stolfi agreed:
“We cannot allow the most vulnerable people to Oregon to take advantage of,” he said. “We will continue to not only hold accountable the companies that do business here, but also to be transparent and lower prescription drug prices for everyone.
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Original text here: https://www.doj.state.or.us/media-home/news-media-releases/oregon-announces-17-million-settlement-with-health-care-giant-centene/