The above 2 page letter was received by one of those unfortunate intractable chronic pain pt has CVS Health/Caremark as their PBM. This pt has been on 70 mg of Methadone/day and 20 mg Oxycodone 3xd as needed for some time. According to CVS this pt needs to be at abt 25 mg/day of Methadone to help assure that the pt’s use of opiates is safe. IMO .. one of the basics of the practice of medicine is the starting, changing, stopping a pt’s therapy … I am pretty sure that a corporation cannot obtain a medical degree nor pass the medical licensing board.. So who within CVS is attempting to practice medicine ?
They have a Chief Medical Director Dr. Troyen Brennan… so one could presume that anything dealing with a pt’s medication would have to be signed off by the CHIEF MEDICAL DIRECTOR recently did a post about CVS and Dr Brennan CVS Pharmacy Will Limit Prescriptions for Opioids
This post is a “little long” .. .but goes into some detail about how – IMO – pts need to deal with this “practicing medicine with a license”.
Many public corporations seem to function under the premise that “nothing is illegal… until they get caught..” If you doubt this, just look at all the lawsuits and fines involving large corporations.
Those in the chronic pain can continue to “sit on their hands” … try to keep “their heads low enough to stay off the radar”…but… there are entities out there that are for all intensive purposes are intending to CARPET BOMB the chronic pain community.
Filed under: General Problems
My husband andI have gotten many of these types of letters from Cvs for opioid medication. Now that Aetna owns Cvs they have the power to make these crazy rules? Use a local pharmacist!! Boycott Cvs and Walgreens if possible. Altho since my insurance is Cvs /Caremark we pay more going elsewhere. It’s a crime!
it is a crime,,,check out Steves post on Aetna,,,just came out late last nite,,,for me this is x-mas,,,Aetna admits to denying medical care to patient and practicing medicine w/out a licence,,maryw
Fyi,,,they,,cvs tried to pull this on me also,,when I show’d my Doc,,he was like NO,,, I can’t just stop your medicine,.,w./17 cardiac ablations,,pancreas issues,,he would of had to hospitalize me in order to adhere to cvs playing Doctor,,and,,,,he said u have been stable for a long time on this,,,why,,,,would I do this,,NO,,, it turn out,,We changed insurance companies on the january 1st,,,THANK GOD,,, or i’d be dead or in a jospital..CVS WOULD OF LITERALLY JEPORDIZED MY LIFE,,,IE CAUSED HARM,,,IN ORDER TO SAVE A FEW BUCKS,, and from what I understand,,methadone is the cheapest meds on the block?!maryw
It just happened to me this past refill…..Feb 5th. I went to get my scripts filled, they filled my oxy 30 mlg but not my 10 mlg methadone. I got no letter warning me! I had to wait 2 days for the pre-auth to go thru but luckily I have been wise and stashed a few. I just felt something was going to happen! As Dr. Tennant just said in his video…we better take what we can get!
Wait,,,”take what we can get??Does a insulin patient say,,I’ll take what I can get of insulin???I guess I see it as,,we have a medical conditions that needs medicine,,soo why is our medicine being denied access to,,,when all other medicines are not?Never ever has any pain patient who takes their medicines as prescribed by their doctors ever ended up in any e/r/. or ever o.d.,,,Never has any pain legitimate patient diverted their medicines,,we need then,,Never has any pain patient stolen their own medicine,,,Soo why would addiction,unlawful,behaviours,even apply to us,,Unless the powers to be have a preconceived discriminatory ,bigotry opinion about r medicines already and deem them nothing more then drugs..Yet the truth is to us,,,THEIR ARE MEDICINES!!NOT SOME TERRIBLE DRUGS,,,maryw
Am I reading this correctly? CVS is telling this pt in a letter that their doctor MUST prescribe methadone? If so…this has to be against the law. Doctors need to fight back on this also. This is wrong on every level. CVS is awful!
The pt had been on 70mg/methadone… CVS wants them to be reduced to 24 mgs/day and no breakthru meds… dropping the 20 mg Oxycodone up to 3xd
The two page letter did not come threw for me. Sorry I did read it incorrectly. CVS is still awful. I hope they go out of business soon.
Hi Steve,
I am a chronic pain patient with CVS Caremark also. Back in December when I heard Caremark was going to do this I called them and was told I would NOT be affected. I received a letter Much to the same extent at the end of January . I called yesterday as my prescriptions will be due this Wednesday . I was once again told that I would not need a prior auth as it would not affect me . I am only 75 mcg & 50 mcg fentanyl patches ,as well as 20 mg oxycodone. My letter from Caremark stated that I would need a prior auth for 10 patches every 25 days for both the 75 mcg as well as the 50 mcg patches. Or 75 for 90 day mail order .It also stated I would need a prior auth for 90 oxycodone every 25 days or 270 tablets for 90 day mail order. Now my prescriptions for my fentanyl patches are 14 of them every 28 days and my oxycodone is 112 every 28 days . When I called and I was told it would NOT affect me , they stated that the amount shown on the paper would need a prior auth but since I don’t receive those amounts that I would not need a prior auth and my prescriptions would be filled without issue. So in this persons case , I think they should call Caremark directly to see what they say as it might not affect them. I will write again Wednesday either way, if my prescriptions go through without issue or if I’ve been lied to and they do need a prior auth !!
I was going to upload the letters I had received Myself but it’s not allowing me to !
U gotta scann it my dear,,then download it,,,then send it as a attachment,,,kinda been there done that,,,,,soo,, it worked on my computer,,,just fyi,,,maryw