A lawsuit is accusing Omnicare and its parent CVS of “alienating” more than 100 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Southern California by delivering allegedly shoddy services following an acquisition of one pharmacy provider.
The case, filed Nov. 13 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, contends that after CVS subsidiary Evergreen Pharmaceutical of California acquired the assets of pharma provider ModernHealth last year, things quickly went down hill. The “vast majority” of the 150 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities formerly serviced by Modern terminated their agreements with the new owner, the legal filing claims.
Alleged Failures included doling out the wrong prescriptions, failing to fill orders, late deliveries and engaging in price gouging. “As a result, nursing homes complained that CVS/Omnicare put patients’ health and lives at risk,” ModernHealth’s law firm, Miller Barondess, alleged.
In a statement to McKnight’s, CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said that allegations against Omnicare in the lawsuit are “disingenuous” and accusations in the suit had been litigated previously, with no admission of wrongdoing by the Woonsocket, RI, company.
“We firmly deny the allegations in this complaint, which is related to a business dispute between CVS Health’s subsidiary and ModernHealth, and we intend to defend ourselves vigorously,” he said.
ModernHealth’s is seeking recovery of “substantial” compensatory and punitive damages in the case, Miller Barondess said in its announcement.
