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Island free clinic gets cut of CVS lawsuit

Volunteers in Medicine awarded $15,000 as part of a multi-state settlement.

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A lawsuit against pharmacy chain CVS Caremark Corporation has brought Hilton Head Island's Volunteers in Medicine a $15,000 windfall.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster awarded the island's free clinic that amount Thursday.

"We believed they were overcharging people," McMaster told a crowd of about 15 people who gathered at the clinic for the announcement. "We brought a lawsuit along with 27 other attorney generals. Caremark wanted to settle the case."

In February, the Rhode-Island based company announced a $41 million, multi-state settlement that resolved allegations it improperly billed state and federal Medicaid programs by switching the form of a commonly prescribed anti-ulcer medication, substituting a more expensive capsule form of the drug for tablets. In entering the settlement, the company denied any wrongdoing, according to Caremark's Web site.

As part of the settlement, South Carolina won $465,000, which McMaster said would be parceled out to free clinics and organizations who provide pharmaceuticals to individuals and families with little or no medical insurance.

Volunteers in Medicine is the 10th free clinic in the state to receive funding from the settlement, said Mark Plowden, spokesman for the attorney general's office.

The money could not have come at a better time, clinic officials said.

In July, a $150,000 budget shortfall forced the clinic to cut operating hours to control expenses.

The $15,000 will help purchase pharmaceuticals for patients, and will not have to come from general operating expenses, said Margie Maxwell, Volunteers in Medicine's director of development.

"Getting medications to patients is one of the biggest challenges for a free clinic," said Dr. Frank Bowen, the clinic's medical director. "We dispense over $3 million in medications a year. We don't buy that much (since some are donated), but this makes a nice dent."

The clinic treats about 12,500 patients a year and relies on the community to survive.

About 60 percent of its budget comes from individual donations.

The rest comes from grants, foundations and fundraisers.

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