
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil complaint against CVS Pharmacy Inc. and its subsidiaries in Rhode Island. The complaint accuses the company of filling unlawful prescriptions and seeking federal healthcare reimbursements for these prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and the False Claims Act (FCA). CVS, which operates more than 9,000 pharmacies across the U.S., has allegedly engaged in these practices from October 17, 2013, to the present.
The government claims CVS knowingly filled illegitimate prescriptions, lacked valid medical purposes, or were issued outside the usual course of professional practice. These included dangerous combinations such as “trinity” prescriptions—a mix of opioids, benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxants—as well as excessive quantities of opioids and premature refills. According to the complaint, CVS continued to fill prescriptions from doctors involved in “pill mills,” dispensing opioids inappropriately.
The lawsuit also alleges that CVS’s practices were influenced by company-mandated performance metrics, which led to the neglect of critical warning signs. In some cases, the consequences were fatal, with patients reportedly dying from overdoses shortly after receiving these prescriptions.
The DoJ’s complaint also details the deaths of 10 individuals who allegedly died after filling illegal prescriptions at CVS for opioids and other drugs. One Pennsylvania doctor’s prescribing practices were described as reckless, with patient reviews accusing him of writing prescriptions without proper consultations.
The lawsuit was initiated by a former CVS employee who accuses the company of maintaining insufficient staffing levels and pressuring pharmacists to prioritize speed over verifying prescription legitimacy. CVS allegedly ignored warnings from its employees and continued filling prescriptions that were flagged as suspicious.
“Safety issues arise when one is dealing with medication and also being rushed to fulfill an order like McDonald’s,” one CVS employee allegedly wrote, criticizing the company’s fast-paced, profit-driven approach to filling prescriptions. The complaint also highlighted instances where CVS filled prescriptions for questionable doctors, including an Alabama physician arrested in 2016 despite internal warnings as early as 2015.
CVS has not been taking these allegations standing and the company has pushed back against the allegations. “We have cooperated with the DOJ’s investigation for more than four years, and we strongly disagree with the allegations and false narrative within this complaint,” the company said. It also referenced its 2022 agreement to pay nearly $5 billion over ten years to settle thousands of similar claims from state, local, and tribal governments, while emphasizing that it did not admit wrongdoing under the settlement.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 800,000 people in the United States died of opioid overdoses from 1999 through 2023. While preliminary data indicates a decline in overdose deaths last year, the epidemic remains a pressing public health issue.