A nursing home chain will pay the state about $900,000 as part of a national settlement of allegations that it took kickbacks from a drug company.
Mariner Health Care, Inc. will pay the federal government and states $14 million in civil damages and penalties to resolve allegations that it accepted kickbacks from Omnicare, Inc. in exchange for directing patients to Omnicare prescription drugs.
"We're working to keep medical costs down and save taxpayers' money by aggressively going after fraud by health care providers and drug companies," state Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement.
Cooper's office announced three additional payments to the state from other national Medicaid fraud settlements over the past year.
North Carolina is getting $250,000 as part of a $16.3 million national agreement with Ameritox that resolves allegations that the drug testing company paid money or provided other kickbacks to induce health care providers to make patient referrals to the company.
Novo Nordisk paid the state about $260,000 as part of a $7.5 million agreement to resolve allegations that the company improperly marketed one of its drugs.
UCB paid the state nearly $790,000 as part of a $25.7 million national agreement to settle charges that it filed false Medicaid claims for unapproved uses of the epilepsy drug Keppra.
