ST. LOUIS — The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division, determined that a pharmacy provider breached its contract when it did not properly collect payments.
U.S. District Judge John A. Ross ruled on the case on Nov. 8.
The court determined there was enough evidence to prove that HM Compounding Services infringed on the provider agreement it had with Express Scripts (ESI) as a member of ESI’s pharmacy provider network, and granted ESI its motion for summary judgement.
The ruling said that HM had failed to collect copayments and distributed falsified U&C cash prices for reimbursement.
HM had initiated the lawsuit when it accused ESI of breach of contract after ESI terminated it from its pharmacy provider network, but the court ruled that it was HM that had broken the agreement.
“Because HM breached the agreement, ESI had a contractual right to immediately terminate HM and did not breach the agreement,” the appeals court said. “Further, HM has no evidence of damages, including profits. The report and testimony of its damages expert was excluded and none of HM’s lay witnesses have the requisite personal knowledge or necessary factual bases for estimating damages with reasonable certainty.”