PHARMACIST STEVE

Just a few days ago I made this post  https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/cvs-health-is-standing-up-to-protect-their-own-profits-using-a-smoke-screen-and-accusing-others-of-profiteering/ Where the PBM CAREMARK – owned by CVS HEALTH – “By inserting themselves in the state’s process of selecting a firm to manage prescription drug coverage for the Office of Group Benefits, special interest groups representing Louisiana’s independent pharmacists attempted to line their own pockets […]

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Fear, Loathing, and Fentanyl Misinformation https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/101577 Misleading fentanyl narratives are pervasive and cause very real harm “‘Think about this,’ (East Liverpool Ohio Chief of Police) Lane told ‘Inside Edition.’ ‘Nobody sees (fentanyl) on his shirt. He leaves and goes home, takes off that shirt, throws it in the wash. His mom, his wife, his girlfriend […]

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I have often posted over the years, that forcing a pt to get ESI injections was a violation of part of the Sherman Antitrust Act, called Tying Commerce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tying_(commerce)      Basically, it is illegal to force someone to purchase something they don’t want in order to be able to buy something that they do want.  Also, […]

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Senate Report Decries Medicare Advantage Plan Marketing Deception https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/features/101583FF Frustrated, confused, embarrassed enrollees often delay care after being “scammed,” report notes Widespread Medicare Advantage (MA) marketing scams and deception often result in beneficiaries getting switched — without their knowledge or consent — to plans that don’t cover their providers or their needs, according to a […]

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The last few years that I worked as a pharmacist, I worked as a temp pharmacist and one of the locations that I worked at, was one of Omnicare’s LTC pharmacies. When I had my own independent pharmacy, we serviced nursing homes.  I left working as a pharmacist before CVS bought Omnicare.  I worked a […]

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I’m going to use an analogy to make my case.  I remember from plane & solid geometry that it takes 3 points of support to a horizontal solid plane to make it stable.   For those of you who never had to take a plane & solid geometry course, think how easy/hard it would be […]

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Alcohol death rate in US is rising, government reports say https://www.foxnews.com/health/alcohol-death-rates-us-rising-government A CDC report found the rate of related deaths rose by 26% in the first year of the pandemic Deaths that can be directly attributed to alcohol rose nearly 30% in the U.S. during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two new reports […]

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I think that I posted when they announced that they were going to renew the 2016 guidelines, that over my 5+ decades of watching bureaucrats… when an existing rule/law/regulation gets re-opened to improve it… it seldom makes things better….  more often than not… things get worse.  With this version of the opiate dosing guide, there […]

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CVS Health is standing up for Louisianans https://www.cvshealth.com/news-and-insights/articles/cvs-health-is-standing-up-for-louisianans “By inserting themselves in the state’s process of selecting a firm to manage prescription drug coverage for the Office of Group Benefits, special interest groups representing Louisiana’s independent pharmacists attempted to line their own pockets at the expense of the state’s taxpayers, employees and retirees. “Following a […]

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This is a video about ONE HOUR LONG… normally, I don’t sit thru such a long video.  This is a VERY INTERESTING presentation put on by Dr. Jennifer Alva – an attorney with a very broad legal background. She talks about how the various state PDMP who has apparently turned their data collecting responsibility over […]

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