Bayer Healthcare Agrees To Nearly $100 Million Fine For Paying Kickbacks

Bayer Healthcare, Inc., based in Tarrytown, New York and a unit of German-based Bayer AG, agreed to pay a $97.5 million fine yesterday to settle charges that it paid kickbacks to diabetic suppliers and caused them to file fraudulent medicare claims. According to the US Department of Justice, Bayer paid the fine to settle charges that it had paid 11 diabetic suppliers to convert their patients to Bayer products from competitors' products. The violations occurred between 1998 and 2007. Under the terms of the consent decree, Bayer agreed to a corporate integrity program which requires it to review and update its employee training for employees who work with Medicare.

Read the DOJ announcement here.

Read the story here and here.

We note that in 2003, Bayer Healthcare paid a $257 million fine to settle Medicaid fraud charges, which was the largest Medicaid fraud recovery to date. Read the story here. This company clearly has a systemic problem with the way it conducts business.