Goldberg Kohn Whistleblower Case Involving Omnicare Covered in Chicago Tribune Article, "Nursing Home Execs Agree to Pay $5 Million to Settle Suit"
A Goldberg Kohn whistleblower case involving Omnicare is featured in the Chicago Tribune article, "Nursing Home Execs Agree to Pay $5 Million to Settle Suit," published Aug. 6, 2013.
The article concerns a six-year-old whistle-blower lawsuit alleging that the pharmaceutical giant Omnicare Inc. paid Philip Esformes and his father, Morris Esformes, a kickback by significantly inflating the price Omnicare paid in 2004 for Total Pharmacy, which was partially owned by Philip Esformes.
Goldberg Kohn represents the plaintiff in the case, former Total Pharmacy employee Maureen Nehls. Nehls claimed in the suit that that Omnicare's $32 million purchase of Total included a multimillion-dollar kickback to secure long-term pharmacy contracts with more than two dozen nursing homes the Esformeses operated or influenced.
In June, Omnicare agreed to pay $17.2 million to the government to settle its part of the ongoing lawsuit. Nehls stands to get 28 percent of that, or roughly $4.8 million. Nehls will likely get 25 to 30 percent of the $5 million Esformes settlement.
"People who are in a position to refer Medicaid patients to health care providers should make those referrals with only one goal in mind: the best interests of the patient," said Nehls' Goldberg Kohn attorney. "Those who seek to turn the Medicaid program into a pay-to-play scheme will pay the price, as all the defendants did in this case."
