Local governments can expect to see another deposit this month to their opioid settlement account. Payments totaling $3.3 million from the national Distributor Settlement Agreement will be made to participating Kentucky counties and cities on April 15, 2024.
This allocation is a prepayment* of the Cencora (formerly known as AmerisourceBergen) and Cardinal Health share of the settlement that had originally been scheduled for Year 7. Click here to view a spreadsheet of the April 2024 county and city payments.
Cencora, Cardinal Health and a third company – McKesson – are pharmaceutical distributors that entered into a $19.5 billion nationwide settlement agreement in 2022. Payments from that settlement will be made to participating states and their political subdivisions over 18 years. The first three payments from this settlement have been distributed, and the next annual payment is scheduled for July 2024.
Counties and cities should already have an account set up through the National Opioid Settlement online portal. It is essential for local governments to keep payment information current on their Portal Account to prevent any delays in receiving your settlement funds.
Accounting and use of funds
KACo recommends that these funds be placed in a separate special account/fund.
According to the terms of the settlement and KRS 15.291 and 15.293, settlement funds may only be used for specific purposes related to opioid abatement.
Opioid settlement background
Kentucky has agreed to participate in seven national settlements related to the opioid crisis:
- Distributors (AmericsourceBergen/Cencora, Cardinal Health, McKesson) | $21 billion paid over 18 years
- Johnson & Johnson | $5 billion paid over nine years
- CVS | $4.9 billion paid over 10 years
- Walgreens | $5.52 billion paid over 15 years
- Walmart | $3.1 billion
- Allergan | $2 billion paid over 7 years
- Teva | $3.34 billion over 13 years
For more information and resources, check out KACo’s Opioid Settlement Resource Library
Future webinars
April 18th 2:00-3:30 EDT – KACo Leadership Institute: Opioid Settlement Funds – Best Practices
Questions?
Please reach out to KACo Opioid Settlement Advisor, Lauren Carr – lauren.carr@kaco.org.
*As per Section IV.J of the Distributor Settlement Agreement, Cencora, Inc. (formerly known as AmerisourceBergen Corporation) and Cardinal Health, Inc. have chosen to exercise their right to make Settlement Prepayments according to their expected contributions to the Annual Payment for Payment Year 7 on April 15, 2024. As stated in Section IV.J.3.b, a Settling Distributor is limited to three (3) prepayments over the eighteen (18) year payment period, with a maximum of one (1) prepayment allowed within a five (5) year interval.
