Email steve@steveariens.com 502-938-2414
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While I have not always agreed with our President Donald Trump. After college, I worked only 6-7 yrs as an employee. I often “bucked the system” as an employee. Six years after college I decided to open my own community pharmacy, and before I retired years later, I had started a handful of businesses, not […]
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We know that people who are having their pain management reduced or eliminated entirely, their QOL deteriorates dramatically, often the person becomes disabled, losing their job(s) or the business that they have owed and operated for years. Often the “healthy spouse” abandons/divorces the chronic pain spouse. Even if the “healthy spouse” stays, the family’s financial […]
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By FDA law, compounding pharmacies are not allowed to compound and medications that is available as a commercially sold product. One exception is when a commercially produced product is in short supply or on back order. With these new GLP-1 medications, the very exact GLP-1 raw medication powder is NOT AVAILABLE to compounding pharmacies. Apparently […]
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Dr. Kolodny’s New Math: Turning Chronic Pain Patients into OUD Statistics https://www.acsh.org/news/2024/12/16/dr-kolodnys-new-math-turning-chronic-pain-patients-oud-statistics-49179 Just when you thought the opioid crisis may have peaked, Dr. Andrew Kolodny, arguably the world’s foremost anti-opioid zealot, has found a shiny new way to inflate the numbers. In the HHS’s redefining of opioid use disorder (OUD) to include patients responsibly taking […]
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I asked www.perplexity.ai about what medications could be used for a pt with under/untreated intractable chronic pain. The AI’s response was all over the place – it was as if – this AI was an employee of CDC or PROP -but never mentioned the use of a opioid, but it did mention the use of […]
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UnitedHealth Doctors Questioned https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/features/113784 The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is interviewing at least two former UnitedHealth Group physicians, two sources told STAT Both doctors had been interviewed for STAT’s series on UnitedHealth, and they described how patient care deteriorated after being acquired by Optum, a subsidiary of the healthcare giant. They also said they […]
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Major PBMs Inflated Drug Prices, Pocketing $7.3 Billion Along the Way, FTC Says https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/113781 Three largest PBMs reimbursed own pharmacies at higher rates than independent ones, report finds The three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) inflated the price of specialty generic drugs beyond their costs of acquisition, earning more than $7.3 billion in revenue from […]
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FDA Declares End to Tirzepatide Shortage While compounded GLP-1s served an important role during drug shortages, they are not considered identical to FDA-approved brand-name medications Mounjaro/Zepbound, Eli Lilly GLP-1 injectables are no longer in “short supply”. Thus compounding pharmacies can no longer legally compound it. Starting in 2025, once the Medicare pt pays $2,000 (deductibles […]
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what happens to the quality of patient care as private equity companies buy up companies that are providing health care? Here is a blog post that I made a few days ago about a large group of people that are finding difficulty in getting insurance to cover needed therapy. Imagine a disease so prevalent 40% […]
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25 hospital closures in 2024 https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/5-hospital-closures-in-2024.html Many hospitals and emergency departments have been forced to close in 2024 due to circumstances like high costs and shifts in care needs. Becker’s has reported on 25 hospital and emergency department closures in 2024: Editor’s note: This article was updated Dec. 27 at 3:06 p.m. CT. 1. ShorePoint Health […]
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