Ohio Accuses Drug Company Of Overcharging For Prescriptions

COLUMBUS, OH — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost had strong words for pharmacy benefit manager OptumRX this week. Yost filed an amended lawsuit against the company claiming they overcharged customers.

“It’s time for the feet-dragging to stop – we’ll see you in court,” Yost said in a statement this week.

The original lawsuit against OptumRX was filed in March and claimed the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) overcharged the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation nearly $16 million for generic drugs bought between January 2015 and October 2018. The amended lawsuit accuses the company of additional overcharges to the fund.

"“We are honored to have delivered access to more affordable prescription medications for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and Ohio taxpayers. We believe these allegations are without merit and will vigorously defend ourselves," a spokesperson for OptumRX told Patch in an emailed statement.

PBMs are private companies which contract with state agencies to manage drug prescriptions for clients of the agencies. Yost said OptumRX "regularly charged commercially unreasonable prices for generic drugs."

The lawsuit against OptumRX said the company was charging the Bureau of Workers' Compensation 300-percent more than that National Average Drug Acquisition Cost, a federal drug-pricing benchmark maintained by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The bureau's contract with OptumRX expired in 2018 and the bureau has since contracted with a new PBM. Yost's office said PBM practices have been under intense scrutiny since revelations that some companies were over-charging agencies.