CVS Caremark Corp has agreed to pay $17.5 million to resolve claims that it overbilled Medicaid. The case was brought to the Justice Department by a whistleblower in Minnesota, who will receive $2.6 million.
Which makes more sense to you and your bottom line? A) Having employees report illegal and unethical situations internally so your organization can address situations and document them for legal and CYA purposes or B) having employees report illegal and unethical situations to the federal government and then dealing with expensive multi-million dollar fines, spending time and money and resources on repairing reputations and having the whistleblower get paid millions too?
Lessons Learned: Now that the federal government is paying whistleblowers and now that we also have Wikileaks and other public web sites to report to, organizations need to make sure they have a more holistic and comprehensive platform to connect all the dots internally with documentation to prove that your organization can receive tips, investigates tips, takes appropriate actions, alleviates future concerns and documents the entire process.