DOJ settles with Mount Vernon family clinic after False Claims Act investigation

The United States Department of Justice announced a settlement on Monday with a Mount Vernon family clinic after accusations of importing birth control medication not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Skagit Family Health Clinic of Mount Vernon agreed to pay $120,000 to the state and federal government for false claims the clinic filed with state or federal medical programs.

According to the DOJ, the clinic imported and billed for birth control medications between 2015 and 2020 and submitted claims for the medications to the Washington State Medicaid Program.

Of the $120,000 settlement, nearly $72,000 will go to Washington and just over $48,000 will go to the federal government.

“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.”

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