The Department of Justice reached a $21 million settlement with compounding pharmacy Diabetic Care RX (Patient Care America) over an illegal kickback scheme.

The DOJ alleged that the company entered into a scheme with three marketing companies to target and refer TRICARE beneficiaries to it for pain cream prescriptions, resulting in medically unnecessary prescriptions.

The marketers were accused of paying kickbacks to patients by covering patient copayments regardless of financial need and paying telemedicine physicians to write prescriptions without a legitimate prescriber-patient relationship.