CVS to limit opioid drug prescriptions amid national epidemic
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/09/21/cvs-health-opioid-prescriptions/685201001/
Drug-store chain CVS Health plans to announce Thursday that it will limit opioid prescriptions in an effort to combat the epidemic that accounted for 64,000 overdose deaths last year alone.
Amid pressure on pharmacists, doctors, insurers and drug companies to take action, CVS also said it would boost funding for addiction programs, counseling and safe disposal of opioids.
The company’s prescription drug management division, CVS Caremark, which provides medications to nearly 90 million people, said it would use its sweeping influence to limit initial opioid prescriptions to seven-day supplies for new patients facing acute ailments.
It will instruct pharmacists to contact doctors when they encounter prescriptions that appear to offer more medication than would be deemed necessary for a patient’s recovery. The doctor would be asked to revise it. Pharmacists already reach out to physicians for other reasons, such as when they prescribe medications that aren’t covered by a patient’s insurance plan.
The plan also involves capping daily dosages and initially requiring patients to get versions of the medications that dispense pain relief for a short period instead of a longer duration.
CVS CEO Larry Merlo told USA TODAY that the company had often been asked to fill prescriptions of 30 to 60 of the powerful pills at a time for conditions that required a much more limited amount.
“We see that all too often in the marketplace and we believe it’s appropriate to limit those prescriptions to a much more moderate and appropriate supply,” he said. “We think this can help make an impact.”
He declined to wade into the debate over the role of drug companies, physicians and others in causing the crisis.
“From my perspective, it’s not a blame game at this point,” he said. “I think as healthcare stakeholders we all play an important role in being part of the solution.”
Separately, CVS rival Walgreens announced plans for a new marketing campaign aimed at educating teenagers about the danger of opioids.
Taken together, the initiatives reflect an increasingly active role on behalf of two of the nation’s largest retailers in combating a deadly epidemic.
The White House has declared this week as Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week.
President Trump recently announced plans to declare the opioid crisis as a national emergency, though the official declaration was still under a legal review as of last week. The move could free up certain federal resources to tackle the epidemic.
With more than 9,600 locations, CVS said it would also empower its pharmacists to proactively educate patients about the dangers of opioids and encourage shorter prescriptions to prevent addictions.
“The whole effort here is to try to reduce the number of people who are going to end up with some sort of opioid addiction problem,” CVS Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan said in an interview.
Pharmacists are the front lines of prescription drug distribution and so can play key roles in educating consumers about the dangers of opioids, said Mohamed Jalloh, spokesman for the American Pharmacists Association.
“Pharmacists are going to be stepping up their role to be able to spot questionable behavior,” he said.
One area where the nation’s largest drug-store chains are increasingly active is in providing safe ways to dispose of excess opioids. CVS said it would add safe disposal kiosks to 750 of its stores.
Walgreens, which does not have a pharmacy benefits manager like CVS and thus cannot limit prescription dosages on its own, has already stationed disposal kiosks at about 600 pharmacies throughout the country, spokesman Phil Caruso said.
Walgreens also Wednesday launched a new marketing campaign dubbed “#ItEndsWithUs,” featuring “13 Reasons Why” actor Brandon Larracuente highlighting the risks of opioids and new online resources.
Filed under: General Problems
it’s february 2019 and this problem with the pharmacies is getting worse. i am a disabled man i am treated by a psychiatrist who prescribes me medication to treat my anxiety and chronic insomnia due to previously having a stroke that damaged my brain. i am routinely mistreated and denied medication by walgreens. it’s going to get much worse. i see walgreens is buying rite aid. good luck to all the disabled people in the u.s. that will likely die or commit suicide because a pharmcist has no compassion
After being ill for some time with no apparent reason my sister was finally diagnosed last week, with widespread ovarian cancer. She had major surgery yesterday. She has been in a lot of pain, she finally got a diagnosis and a plan that included IV morphine. It worked well with no bad side effects, her first relief from constant pain pre and post op. THEN we were told this major regional hospital was “out” of morphine, and out of dilaudid AND out of the protein necessary to formulate her TPN IV nutrition feed! Why? No one seems to know why. But…I am with you Vic. Never again will I enter a CVS. And, as for our POTUS’ TV reality show type War On Opioids, all show and no DESIRABLE results, easy answers for complex problems, simple easy and WRONG? Thanks, thanks a lot, heir-billionaire DT, you who have never had to worry a day in your life about where your next meal, medical treatment or pain relief was going to come from. Thanks. Lesson learned, if you have no answers, no plan, attack others’, tear down the few hard won accomplishments they have made! You’re doing something. Sounds good, looks good, gets great ratings. Well done!
from my cot in the corner of my sister’s ICU room.
Wish you were here…
to listen to her soft sing song moan at 2am, “hurt, hurt, hurt” while her nurse is waking doctors and pharmacists all over town begging for …morphine. Old timey, cheap, effective and once easy for reputable doctors and hospitals to get and provide to their ill patients. But now we must wait for politicians and insurance companies and drug stores practicing medicine without a license to “approve”. Here is my approval rating: 0 stars out of all the stars that have ever existed. Zero.
PS, when all the right people own all the right businesses all the right products will be available once again, for all the “right” prices, of course. Well done. You are making America great again, for all the “right” people.
I think what we are seeing is the result of Congress giving the pharmas tax incentives to move their manufacturing facilities to Puerto Rico decades ago and this year’s Hurricane Maria pretty much WIPED OUT the island and all of that potential manufacturing of numerous needed medications. Because of the increased pressure on the pharmaceutical companies to hold down prices, by our bureaucracy and insurance industry… it would appear that the entire industry has been functioning for years with little reserve capacity and with the devastation in Puerto Rico from Maria… pts will suffer and many will DIE .. because of this.
Every chronic pain patient needs to BOYCOTT CVS. I absolutely will never step foot in a CVS store for anything!!!
[…] CVS Health attempting to practice medicine WITHOUT A LICENSE ? […]
As far as I am concerned and the U.N is concerned,,,denial of access to effective medical care is torture,,and all these arrogant sob’s who think they have the right to decide who,how much u r to suffer in FORCED PHYSICAL PAIN are nothing more then little hitlers,,,,for they think they have the right to force physical pain onto another living entity,,,a human being,,,when it is NOT their right,,,its no-one right,,to torture someone to death by denial of effective medical care.CVS is commiting thee act of torture and practicing medicine W/OUT A LISCENCE,,, along w/ a lot of politicians,,,,,maryw