Refusal to fill: is “I’m not comfortable” being replaced with “I don’t have stock” ?

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

The “excuse” … “I’m not comfortable” infers that the Pharmacist has made a decision… based on certain FACTS that would make the prescription not medically appropriate for a particular pt.  Level one interaction with the pt’s other medications, allergy, dose too high or too low.. having checked a PMP report the pt appears to be […]

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An Invitation from Art Levine, reporter for Newsweek and other major media outlets

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

An Invitation from Art Levine, reporter for Newsweek and other major media outlets: Art Levine is a freelance journalist who has written for Newsweek on the deadly, damaging effects of the crackdown on legal opioid prescribing to chronic pain patients. See  http://www.newsweek.com/va-opiod-policy-wreaks-havoc-former-marine-683467 and https://www.alternet.org/drugs/pundits-focused-trump-craziness-ignoring-threat-mentally-ill-addicts Art hopes to interview surviving family members or friends of chronic pain patients who […]

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Life expectancy in the U.S. is falling — and drug overdose deaths are soaring

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Women attend a candlelight vigil during the FED UP! Coalition’s annual International Overdose Awareness Day event in Washington in August. A new CDC report ESTIMATES 63,600 people died of drug overdoses in 2016. What good is the CDC, if all they can do is ESTIMATE STATS ? www.statnews.com/2017/12/21/life-expectancy-drug-overdose Life expectancy in the U.S. has fallen […]

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Medical regulator assures opioid rule changes won’t throw patients ‘to the wolves’

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2017/12/15/medical-regulator-assures-opioid-rule-changes-dont-throw-patients-wolves/955257001/ Susan Norton of Brookhaven attended the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure meeting Friday, actively withdrawing from morphine. Norton, who has been diagnosed with a chronic, painful bladder disease called Interstitial cystitis, was discharged from her pain management specialist in November, just as the state’s medical regulatory agency started mulling increased opioid prescription rules. “I just […]

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Opioids now kill more people than breast cancer

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/21/health/drug-overdoses-2016-final-numbers/index.html More than 63,600 lives were lost to drug overdose in 2016, the most lethal year yet of the drug overdose epidemic, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of those deaths involved opioids, a family of painkillers including […]

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