STOP & SHOP TO PAY $1M IN MEDICAID SETTLEMENT

CAROL ANGRISANI

QUINCY, Mass. -- Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. here will pay nearly $1 million to settle allegations that its pharmacies overcharged Medicaid programs in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Under the agreement, Massachusetts will receive about $600,000; Connecticut, about $210,000; and Rhode Island, about $150,000. Part of these payments will be used for Stop & Shop to run 200 community service programs in all three states. The programs will include detecting and preventing breast and cervical cancer, diabetes, heart disease and the flu. Along with the cash payments, Stop & Shop also will invest "substantial sums of money" to improve its computer-based reimbursement systems, and enhance training of its pharmacists and pharmacy employees, Stop & Shop Spokeswoman Terry Vandewater said in a press statement.

"We are pleased these issues have been resolved, and that the steps we have taken will ensure that Medicaid receives the full benefit of all future consumer-oriented promotions," Vandewater said. A year-long investigation by the Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island Medicaid Fraud Control Units found that the chain excluded Medicaid participation from certain discount and incentive prescription programs that were offered to the general public. It also revealed that Stop & Shop pharmacies billed Medicaid using improper codes, and billed for Medicaid prescriptions ordered, but never picked up by Medicaid customers.