WellCare Health Plans has agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $10 million in civil penalties to put an investigation to rest. The company still faces several other federal and state investigations, but it never hurts to get the SEC off your back.
The SEC had been investigating a restated financial report to the agency, which had been refiled because of accounting errors. In its settlement, WellCare said it would pay $2.5 million to the SEC within 30 days, and the rest of the penalty within one year.
This follows a far heftier settlement with the U.S. attorney's office in Tampa, FL regarding Medicaid fraud, in which it agreed to pay $80 million to the state.
To learn more about WellCare's situation:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece [1]
Related Articles:
WellCare shares plunge [2]
WellCare Health employee guilty of $20M Medicaid fraud [3]
WellCare to pay $32.5M settlement [4]
WellCare budgets $35M for employee retention [5]
Links:
[1] http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20090519/REG/305199993
[2] http://www.fiercehealthfinance.com/story/wellcare-cant-file-quarterly-financial-reports/2008-11-18
[3] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/wellcare-health-employee-guilty-20m-medicaid-fraud/2008-10-07
[4] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/wellcare-pay-32-5m-settlement/2008-08-25?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=healthcare_Medicaid&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FH0
[5] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/wellcare-budget-35m-employee-retention/2007-12-10