Rite Aid paying $20K in settlement with Maryland
http://legalnewsline.com/news/247102-rite-aid-paying-20k-in-settlement-with-maryland
The last time that I looked, the manufacturer, wholesaler and pharmacy are responsible for medications being stored at the appropriate temperature.
From the article:
Between May 2010 and October 2011, Rite Aid of Maryland Inc. allegedly mailed prescriptions to patients without confirming their mailing addresses. When some prescriptions were returned as undeliverable, the pharmaceutical retailer allegedly kept payments for all returned prescriptions without issuing refunds to the Maryland Medicaid program.
Did Rite Aid know that these medications were kept at the mandatory storage temperature? Did they follow the law and destroyed the returned drugs? It is claimed that 20% of people move every year… and I would suspect that those low income folks on Medicaid, may have tendency to move that much or more.. how many pts do we see that are “frequent movers”… as in .. the past due rent was piling up and they moved..
Are the Medicaid pts in Maryland a much more responsible bunch than those in other parts of the country… if they are moving frequently …because the rent is past due ??.. and who knows whatever else is past due… are they really going to go out of their way to make sure that their new address is well known? After all, if their medication doesn’t show up.. it is nothing out of their pocket.. Most/many will presume that someone will fix it for them… You could check over here to get storage and movers to help you move from one place to another.
Also, I wonder who much money was expended.. to figure that the state of Maryland was out 20 K .. someone seeking a higher public profile for a personal agenda ?
Filed under: General Problems
Someone needs to walk in Medicaid recipients shoes. There are PLENTY of reasons for having to move and if folks need meds regularly, every person I know that has Medicaid would let their pharmacists & doctors know. Medicaid patients don’t think someone will “fix” their problems for them. Generally, they spend the majority of their time fixing problems that incompetent uncaring caseworkers and others make for them. It appears the same type of employees work at Rite-Aid and pharmaceutical companies that work as Medicaid caseworkers.
It does seem to me that those of us with stable addresses are penalized with coerced or mandatory mail order programs more so than those who do change addresses frequently due to the circumstances you described.