CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey seemed intent to leave office with a bang.
On January 10, the final business day of Morrisey's term as AG, his office announced a string of settlement agreements that amounted to more than $132 million.
The first one was more than $800,000 with Tiero LLC following an investigation by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The settlement with the Delaware company is for $839,468.41.
According to Morrisey’s office, MFCU investigators determined Tiero submitted claims for payment to the West Virginia Medicaid program for at-home COVID-19 test kits that were not eligible for reimbursement because the company was not enrolled as a provider with the Medicaid program at that time.
The fraud unit also said Tiero also submitted the claims under a billing code intended to be used only for antigen testing services performed in a laboratory setting instead of the correct code which applied to at-home COVID tests.
The settlement includes full restitution of $439,468.41 in Medicaid claims identified by the state as being false and fictitious and additional recoveries totaling $400,000.
“Healthcare providers need to know they must use the proper billing codes that accurately reflect the services they render, and only bill for services that are medically necessary,” Morrisey said. “Moreover, any healthcare provider that wants to do business with the state Medicaid program and its managed care organizations must be properly enrolled to do so.
“They have a responsibility to treat patients with competence and compassion while working within the parameters established by the West Virginia Medicaid program.”
The second was a $12 million settlement with American Optical Corporation to resolve allegations the company made, marketed and sold defective respirators/dust masks in West Virginia.
The suit against American Optical alleged the company violated the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act by making untrue, deceptive or misleading representations in its advertising, marketing, promotion, distribution and sale of respiratory protection equipment in West Virginia.
“West Virginia trusted that this company produced and sold effective protection against occupational pneumoconiosis,” Morrisey said. “They put their safety in the hands of a company that put profits before people.
“I will always protect the interests of hardworking West Virginians.”
The third announcement was a $119.5 million settlement with Altice USA to resolve thousands of consumer complaints about the company’s quality of service in the state.
The AG's office has been investigating Altice — which operates through several subsidiaries in West Virginia under the former Suddenlink and current Optimum brands — with regard to its internet services sold to West Virginia consumers and related customer care issues including billing and technician visits among many others, since 2021. Since 2021, the company has invested more than $75 million in West Virginia internet infrastructure upgrades.
The AG's office received more than 2,300 complaints about a variety of issues from consumers from 2020 to 2023.
“This is years in the making and a big win for the consumers in West Virginia,” Morrisey said. “My office worked tirelessly to resolve this to ensure consumers in the state receive the service from providers they deserve.”
Since initiating the investigation, Altice has or will agree to invest a total of $119.5 million to West Virginia to resolve the AG’s investigation without litigation: $75 million in investments in the state since 2021, $40 million in investments for 2025-2027, $4 million in consumer credits, $500,000 payment to the state, AG’s settlement comes on top of PSC fine of $2.2 million in 2022, Altice’s investments will improve the Internet infrastructure allowing residential customers in its entire service area to receive Internet speeds of up to 1 Gig download/100 Mbps upload, Altice will complete the infrastructure upgrades and build out by the end of December 2027, and if Altice does not complete the upgrade project by the end of December 2027, it faces fines up to an additional $40 million.
And finally, Morrisey announced the AG's office’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division has sent letters to the state’s 55 counties and 229 cities, informing officials of their share from a settlement between the state and pharmaceutical companies Pfizer Inc. and Ranbaxy Inc. in an antitrust lawsuit involving a generic version of cholesterol drug Lipitor.
The lawsuit alleged the two companies conspired to delay the introduction of a generic version of Pfizer’s Lipitor that was produced by Ranbaxy.
“The money for the counties and cities are to partially recover their excess payments or reimbursements for the medication,” Morrisey said. “The political subdivisions do not need to take any action in receiving their share.”
The amount each county and city would receive depends on the size of their population — the counties will receive a total of $1,630,000; cities, $1,855,000.
The lawsuit was filed in 2013 and alleged the two companies created a scheme that prevented a generic, cheaper version of the cholesterol-lowering drug to be introduced on the market for 20 months — Lipitor’s original patent expired on March 24, 2010.
“This is a big victory for the free market and consumers who may have paid more than what they should have for the much-needed medication,” Morrisey said. “In all aspects of business, and that includes the pharmaceutical business, competition is key to a healthy marketplace.”