DOJ and Skagit County health clinic resolve False Claims Act investigation over the use of imported birth control medications

Seattle – The U.S. Department of Justice today reached a settlement with Skagit Family Health Clinic of Mount Vernon, Washington, over the importation of birth control medications that were unlawfully imported from a foreign source and not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Under the terms of the settlement, the clinic will pay a total of $120,000 to the state and federal governments for false claims the clinic filed with state or federal medical programs.

“FDA approval is a critical way for government medical programs to ensure patients get appropriate medicines and devices,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. “We don’t have evidence that any patients were harmed from these unapproved medications, but government programs cannot pay for clients to take such a risk.”

The prelitigation settlement, claims the clinic imported and billed for the medications between 2015 and 2020.  The clinic submitted claims for the birth control medications to the Washington State Medicaid Program.  Of the $120,000 settlement paid by the clinic, nearly $72,000 will go to Washington State, while just over $48,000 will to the federal government for its share of the medical costs.

DOJ settled the matter on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Washington State Attorney General’s Office and the Washington State Health Care Authority.