Optum to pay $20M to settle improper prescription allegations
OptumRx will pay $20 million to settle allegations it improperly dispensed some opioid medications, the Justice Department said June 27.
The settlement resolves an investigation into if OptumRx improperly filled certain opioid prescriptions between 2013 and 2015. The Justice Department alleged the pharmaceutical benefit manager improperly dispensed opioids in combination with other drugs, including benzodiazepines and muscle relaxants, from its mail-order pharmacy operations in Carlsbad, Calif.
Opioids prescribed alongside benzodiazepines and muscle relaxants are commonly referred to as “trinity” prescriptions. These prescriptions raise red flags that the drugs may not be for legitimate medical use, and could lead to the diversion of controlled substances, the Justice Department said. In its investigation, the department alleged OptumRx dispensed trinity prescriptions without resolving red flags.
OptumRx does not admit liability as part of the settlement. The company has instituted policies to reduce the number, dose and duration of opioids distributed, according to the Justice Department, and instituted more robust procedures to identify prescriptions for dangerous combinations of drugs or doses. Optum closed its Carlsbad mail-order operations during the course of the investigation, according to the Justice Department.
OptumRx is a pharmaceutical benefit manager owned by UnitedHealth Group.
Filed under: General Problems
U know,,heres what I do not understand why no-one is seeing the reality,,Sacklers never ran a single T.V commercial selling opiates,,,none of the pharmacuetical companies ever ran a single commercial selling opiates to the mass’s..None of them ever did a single ,”movie”,,selling their product to the mass’s,,Yet,,a guy named Mr.Kolodny,who makes his living off of labelling fake addiction claims by literally changing definition as a psychiatry,,makes movies selling his business to the mass’s,,Organizes entire groups,to sell his products,Used our federal government agency to manipulate the mass’s,,to sell his product of addiction and nothing for him?He uses torturing the medically ill via denial of any effective dosage of the medicine opiates for the medical purpose of relieving physical pain from medical conditions,uses torturing our weakest as a commodity,,using torture as a commodity,and nothing legal against him??Medical torture in illegal in every other civilized nation,,but America,under the ,”color of law,” and words like ,”lawful sanctions,” breaking laws on the books,,ie 42-1395,,and nothing happens to him or those who colluded with him??Why??But society goes after a business that makes a medicine that once effectively lessen physical pain,thus human suffering and society burns them at the stake?WTH is wrong w/people,it is really ass-backwards in this pain patients opinion when.” Torture upon the sick and dieing is psychiatrists new commodity,,When all humane doctor’s are arrested and jailed, simple for being humane.When torture is allowed to be used as a commodity,they dance on ALL our graves,giving us laws on how we are to die in forced agony,It just proved Evil truely is sufferable,,for no-where on God earth,is torture upon our medically afflicted sick,our dieing,children included ever the rite thing to do,,not even under the ,”color of law,” or for a demented psychiatrist commodity,,,jmo,,maryw