Massachusetts, federal officials unite to crack down on improper opioid prescriptions
http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/01/state_and_federal_officials_jo.html#comments
What do you get when you have a group of bureaucrats from our judicial system looking for “bad doctors, Pharmacists and other healthcare professionals “? Typically, you end up with a WITCH HUNT… because you have people with no medical background making decisions about how/if a healthcare professionals are “bad apples”… and of course… they can’t/won’t walk away empty handed… they have to save face to find someone to drag thru the “judicial mud”. Otherwise, the next time they want money to go after some group.. they might not get their witch hunt funded. Normally you don’t fund LOSERS
BOSTON – Attorney General Maura Healey joined state and federal officials on Wednesday to announce the creation of a new task force to investigate and prosecute the illegal prescribing and dispensing of opioids.
Healey said opioid prescriptions have grown by 140 percent in the United States since the mid-1990s. In Massachusetts, there were 4.6 million prescriptions for opioids written last year. Statistics show that four of five heroin addicts were first addicted to prescription drugs.
“Unfortunately, what we’ve seen the last 15 years is as the number of prescriptions has increased so too have the number of overdoses and addiction, and we are paying the price for that right now, here in communities across our state,” Healey said.
The group includes Healey and state Auditor Suzanne Bump, and federal officials from the U.S. Attorney’s office, the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The coordination will allow law enforcement to use a mix of civil and criminal penalties and federal and state law to crack down on improper prescribing practices.
Healey stressed that the working group is not about harming doctors who are lawfully prescribing medication or patients who legitimately need it.
“This working group is about the fact that we do have actors out there in our state who are illegally, unlawfully prescribing prescription pain medication,” Healey said.
In one recent case, Healey’s office is prosecuting a Ludlow doctor, Fernando Jayma, for allegedly prescribing oxycodone, morphine, methadone and fentanyl to patients for no legitimate medical purpose, including some patients with documented substance abuse problems.
Healey said her office has investigated other cases when doctors were writing prescriptions for dead people, prescribing drugs with no legitimate medical purpose or prescribing drugs that should not be taken together.
Bump’s office will help the task force collect and analyze data to identify problematic doctors by focusing on identifying prescribing practices likely to indicate abuse. The state has various data sources to identify things like doctors who are prescribing outside their specialty, hospitals and pharmacies that lose track of drug inventory, pharmacies that improperly dispense medication to an individual who is only allowed to shop at a particular pharmacy, or doctors who write large numbers of prescriptions for patients who live far away.
Harold Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said his office has a task force with experience identifying fraudulent billing practices. The FBI will also investigate organized criminal networks that distribute opioids.
Michael Ferguson, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New England Field Division, said the DEA can monitor compliance with the U.S. Controlled Substance Act and assess civil penalties, such as taking away a doctor’s prescribing license.
The inspector general’s office of the Department of Health and Human Services will focus on identifying Medicare and Medicaid fraud and cases where drugs prescribed to people on federally funded health plans are being diverted.
“We can’t say the vast majority of prescriptions aren’t for legitimate needs, but some are fraudulent, some drugs are being diverted, some prescriptions are being used for drug trafficking,” said Special Agent in Charge Phillip Coyne.
Asked whether new legislation is necessary, Healey said she is focused on enforcing existing laws, using data correctly and communicating between agencies.
“I think enforcing existing laws is the way to go. I don’t think we need to have a conversation about changing the laws,” Healey said.
Healey said she does support provisions in bills currently pending before the state Legislature that would require doctors to check a Prescription Monitoring Program to find out a patient’s history of drug use before the doctor prescribes an opioid.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney John McNeil acknowledged that it can be tough to prove cases against doctors who overprescribe drugs. In one prominent case, a U.S. District Court jury acquitted a Needham doctor and nurse of charges that they improperly prescribed opioid painkillers, after six patients died of drug overdoses, the Boston Globe reported.
McNeil said the advantage of the task force is that both federal and state resources will be directed at the problem.
“Let’s say we find a doctor who is on that edge between appropriate prescriptions and drug dealing, and we decide not to take a criminal case against that doctor, we can use our federal civil authorities to pursue that doctor and take that doctor’s license away,” McNeil said.
The announcement comes the same day as the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released updated data on opioid overdoses. The new data confirmed that there were 1,099 unintentional opioid overdose deaths in 2014, an increase from 911 in 2013 and 668 in 2012. In the first nine months of 2015, there appears to be a higher rate of overdose deaths than during the same period in 2014.
Filed under: General Problems
Why are we hearing so much about opioid addiction and overdose lately? Why is that such a “crisis”? When you finally open the studies and read the statistics, you’ll find varying reports on the opioid death rate from around 20k to 40k a year, a staggering number to be sure. However, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 88,000 people a year die from alcohol. Why is that not a “crisis” and a “growing epidemic”? Why are we so alarmed by 40k deaths a year that we’re instituting Gustapo-style crackdowns on pain medication that is so needed by so many people, yet alcohol, a purely recreational drug, is not only virtually unregulated, but even celebrated in the Hallmark card section (read some of the greeting cards the next time you’re at the drug store). By saying this I’m not trying to bring back 1920-style alcohol prohibition, but only to put things in perspective. The hypocrisy is a stench!
We all know that when the government gets involved in anything it becomes nothing but a clusterf##k. It is just a bunch of people, politicians or people with some type of political pull calling the shots. Well I am sorry but I do not think any of them practice medicine. But now they are all of the sudden deciding what should be done. How did they become healthcare experts. WTF I would like to hear something from the Doctors. What is out there that is going to replace the opioids that are being prescribed for pain? Shut the pill mills down. Don’t go after the majority of doctors that prescribe it the way they should. There are people that are living a full life because their chronic pain has been diminished. What are they going to do? Go back to a life of chronic pain. What is going on is a witch hunt. Why is there still all of the Herion still coming into this country? What is the DEA doing about this problem that has been going on for years? What about all of the other illegal drugs in this country? Hmmmm Maybe they are turning their heads because it is putting money in their pockets. Typical government fix. Put a bandaid on it. They talk about giving money for rehab. They can’t even figure out how to make sure every person in this country have access to medical care. And what about the dentist or eye care industry. How many people can’t afford to have anything done put have their teeth pulled. How does that help someo get a job when they have a mouth full of cavities and missing teeth. How about a person or family that can’t get badly needed glasses because they can’t afford it. The working poor. What kind of government turns their back on the people that put them in office. Our government is no longer for the people. They are in it for their own financial gain. Lobbyists are are bribing the politicians. How is that right. Just open your eyes and look at the faces full of stress in this country because the price of everything goes up except their paychecks. The people deciding the fate of people and doctors really don’t give a damn. But they are calling the shots. What is wrong with this picture everything
if u read that page on the hhs site where we submit our candidate for this pain commission,,,u will see back in 2000 Tom Price was against Painmanagement and from that day on sought out to destroy it,,its called abuse of power/public trust,tortoreing us to death,,literally,,,maryw
Also since the government is truly soo corrupted,,,how do u know there are really ANY pill mills,,?????how can u trust 1 word out of their lieful mouth,,,,exspecially the dea,They have literally been thrown out of every other country on this planet,,,THAT’s WHY their staying here,,no other country will let them in,,,their too corrupted and abuse people,,,,,but for me,,,i will not trust 1 word out of any government official,,there just too dam corrupt,,,ON OUR DIME,,,,,maryw
Witch hunts NEVER end well.
More cars on the road…means more miles driven…..means more chance of an accident than say 10 years ago…..same with meds……baby boomers are getting older than years before….and all the poisoning in our everyday lifes……means a few more people on pain meds…..lets not forget….how many are war related in recent years. …..again no common sense. ……just a witch hunt to keep their perkie jobs. …peroid.
I want to know what statistic is being quoted that says 4 out of 5 heroin users started using prescription drugs first
It may well be true.. HOWEVER… they don’t state that the prescription opiates were legally obtained via a prescription. I have seen stats that claim that > 50% of those who have OD’ed have never been prescribed the opiates that was found in their blood via toxicology report from autopsy
http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/DR006/DR006/nonmedical-pain-reliever-use-2013.htm
Kim, what you have to remember is that the majority of overdoses happen in the drug addict population, not the chronic pain patient population. So, if you were to trace all the drugs someone took before turning to heroin, it would probably include opioids, as well as aspirin and alcohol.
The IOM report is clear.
Why do the law enforcement folks refuse to look at evidence?
https://iom.nationalacademies.org/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2011/Relieving-Pain-in-America-A-Blueprint-for-Transforming-Prevention-Care-Education-Research/Pain%20Research%202011%20Report%20Brief.pdf
So I guess if at one time you abused a substance and went into recovery and then God forbid get diagnosed with cancer….you’re pretty much screwed as far as pain relief…..
They use coined sayings and bumper sticker slogans to advance their agenda. Adolf Hitler said if you repeat something long enough and often enough, people will believe it. These politicians and news media people have learned well from Hitler!
Holy christ, now the FBI has joined the drug war, too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-bass/boston-priest-scandal-story-spotlight_b_9041238.html?fb_action_ids=211556125852199&fb_action_types=og.comments
“As the film makes clear, it wasn’t until Marty Baron, a Jewish outsider, came in as editor of the Globe and encouraged the Spotlight team to look at the priest scandal, that the paper really dug into the issue and did its prize-winning work.”
I wonder what kind of outsider it would take for The Boston Globe to delve into the opioid war, finally giving voice to the tens of millions of pain patients that its coverage of the “epidemic” excludes?