St. Paul whistleblower costs CVS drug chain $17.5 million

When she worked at the CVS store in St. Paul’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood, pharmacist Stephani LeFlore heard allegations that a rival company had been overbilling Medicaid and wondered about the billing practices of her own employer.

After doing some digging, LeFlore filed a whistleblower lawsuit in 2008 that was joined by the U.S. Justice Department and ultimately settled last week. CVS Pharmacy Inc. admitted no wrongdoing in the matter but agreed to pay $17.5 million.

It’s the second time in four years that a major drug store chain has agreed to settle charges about alleged Medicaid overbilling initiated by pharmacists in the Twin Cities. In 2008, Illinois-based Walgreen paid $9.9 million to settle similar charges brought by a whistleblower pharmacist at one of the company’s stores in South Minneapolis.

“When publicity hit for the Walgreen settlement, that’s what opened her eyes,” said Brian Wojtalewicz, an attorney for LeFlore, who could not be reached for comment Monday.

As the whistleblower, LeFlore, 36, of Minneapolis, will receive nearly $2.6 million as part of the settlement, the Justice Department said last week. On Monday, Minnesota officials said the settlement also would bring the state Medicaid program, which is called Medical Assistance, about $125,000.

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