Firm admits to accepting kickbacks from Injured Workers Pharmacy

The Massachusetts Attorney General has settled a lawsuit with a law firm accused of accepting illegal kickbacks from a pharmacy in exchange for referring injured workers to them.

Bridgewater, Massachusetts-based Keches Law Group P.C. admitted in a consent judgment filed in Suffolk Superior Court that it referred about 800 of its clients and potential clients to Injured Workers Pharmacy LLC to fill prescriptions in exchange for about $90,000, Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said in a statement Thursday.

Keches allegedly entered into two agreements with IWP in which the pharmacy paid for the firm to participate in an X1 racing event and a yacht outing, and picked up the $24,000 tab for a holiday lunch in exchange for referrals, according to court documents.

The law firm has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle claims filed by Ms. Healey alleging that the firm violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act. A third of the fine will go to the commonwealth’s Municipal Naloxone Bulk Purchase Trust Fund, with the remaining $200,000 going toward the Massachusetts General Fund for penalties, fees and costs. 

The consent judgment is still subject to court approval.

In June 2020, Ms. Healey and IWP agreed to an $11 million consent judgment resolving claims that the pharmacy failed to implement safeguards against controlled substance dispensing and paid kickbacks for referrals.

Sean Flaherty, managing partner of Keches, said the firm entered into a joint consent agreement “in support of the public interest to avoid any more time and litigation expense. …This matter, now fully and finally resolved, with disposal of the alleged claim, is now behind us.”