It seems like health care and kickbacks have become a tenacious business model with reports of major litigation and settlements appearing regularly in the media. Today there is yet another report.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Omnicare Inc. agreed to pay $124 million to settle allegations the nursing-home pharmacy company offered improper discounts to skilled-nursing facilities and made false billings to federal health programs, the Justice Department said Wednesday. Omnicare, is the nation’s largest provider of pharmaceuticals and pharmacy services to nursing homes.

The settlement resolves allegations that Cincinnati-based Omnicare entered below-cost contracts to supply prescription medication and other pharmaceutical drugs to skilled-nursing facilities – which were participating providers under agreements with Medicare and Medicaid – to induce them to select Omnicare as their pharmacy provider, according to the Justice Department.

The company disclosed a preliminary $120 million settlement in October and avoided a jury trial that had been scheduled on the case.

An Omnicare spokesman said Wednesday that the company agreed to settle the matter in order to avoid continued litigation, noting the settlement isn’t an admission of liability and Omnicare continues to deny that there was any wrongdoing.

In addition to the facilities’ claims for reimbursement from Medicare for short-term rehabilitation treatments, Omnicare also submitting reimbursement claims to Medicare and Medicaid for drugs the company supplied, the DOJ said.

The Justice Department said $8.24 million of the settlement will go to states that jointly funded the Medicaid programs that were affected.

The settlement also resolves allegations brought in two lawsuits filed by so-called whistleblowers under the False Claims Act, which allow private parties to file lawsuits on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery. The first whistleblower, former Omnicare employee Donald Gale, will receive $17.24 million. Mr. Gale, an Ohio pharmacist, worked for the company from 1993 until 2010.