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False, they are not the same thing, by any means. we need a new word for dependency. It’s like snow, and there are many types. The main dependency that is confused is the one that is during drug withdraw. The new word is biochemical interdependence.
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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/what-s-going-on-at-the-fda-10-agency-updates.html
The FDA is a government agency tasked with protecting public health by making sure prescription drugs are safe and efficient.
In the last couple of months, several studies have been published questioning how the agency does its job, a new commissioner took over and the agency created a program to improve drug quality.
Ten FDA updates reported by Becker’s Hospital Review since December:
Editor’s note: This is not an exhaustive list. Events are listed in order from most to least recent.
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Recorded by the Libertarian Party on 6-23-19. Press release referenced in video: https://www.lp.org/libertarians-suppo… Dr. Kyle Varner is a practicing hospitalist and expert in health care policy. In his upcoming book, White Coat Cartels, Dr. Varner uncovers the dark side of the US healthcare market. Dr. Varner passionately stands for freeing the market and advocates cash-based services and medical tourism as the prevailing alternatives to the compromised healthcare system we are faced with today. He is a highly sought-after writer and speaker, and has spoken at a number of conferences around the world. He shares his insider’s knowledge on the website DrVarner.com to give people the tools they need to take back control of their lives and start making informed decisions about their health. Cara Schulz is a Stage 4 cancer survivor and advocate for humane pain management for cancer patients and chronic pain patients. She has testified on their behalf at the Minnesota State Legislature and is a co-founder of Minnesota Pain Initiative. The Libertarian Party hosts a series conference calls on topics ranging from outreach, activism, current issues, and important updates on our party’s progress. After visit on Health Blog you will get all the details related to health.
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Many think Palliative Care Status Z51.5 doesn’t apply to patients in pain. Then what else is it for? Refusing to make this diagnosis is in the category of refusing to make a diagnosis of cancer. Only medical people can make this diagnosis and treat accordingly. Google “medium palliative exemption” send it to doc in the mail. All this can be found on our master web site “JATHeducational.com
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FREDERICK, Md. – Donna Johnson, a working mother of four who lives in a quiet upscale neighborhood in suburban Maryland, is determined to thwart an insidious addiction treatment scam that’s spreading across the country.
It ensnared her son, then 21, in Florida five years ago when he was desperate for treatment for his addiction to opioid painkillers and heroin —and she was desperate to get him help.
Prompted by a man whom Johnson met online, she agreed to sending her son to South Florida, where he cycled through more than two dozen sober homes and treatment facilities over four years, receiving little actual therapy. He relapsed every time he was discharged, only to be picked up by another facilitator and admitted to another sober living program.
Now, Johnson fears that some of the same people who preyed on her son are setting up shop in Maryland, and she wants state elected officials to outlaw the deadly business scheme before it takes root.
Florida enacted an anti-kickback law in 2017 that gave police the authority to crack down on drug treatment fraud, and since then, similar laws have been enacted in Arizona, California, New York, Tennessee and Utah.
Here’s how the scam works: Seemingly caring people join recovery-related online chat groups, answer addiction hotlines advertised online or show up at fundraisers for addiction recovery. They typically say they’re in recovery themselves and are therefore uniquely qualified to help.
People with addiction and their families often don’t want to ask their doctors or pastors for help because they’re ashamed and want to hide their illness. So, turning to a stranger can be appealing.
To attract victims, “patient brokers,” as the scammers are known, typically offer free airline tickets and pocket money, according to prosecutors. They waive insurance deductibles and copays and tout the camaraderie and beach life the patients will enjoy in a place such as Florida. Parents, relieved that their son or daughter has finally consented to treatment, are eager to go along.
Past legal cases show the brokers can make initial commissions of as much as $2,000 per patient — and then rake in additional fees when they re-enroll the same patients after they relapse.
Within two to four weeks of a patient checking into a sober home where treatment is subpar or nonexistent, insurers may stop paying claims under standard protocols for that type of service, and the fraudulent operators dump their young clients on the street, prosecutors say.
That’s when the shuffle begins.
The patients, mostly in their 20s, typically start using drugs again, sometimes aided by cash they’ve received as a goodbye gift from the treatment provider. Some die of an overdose because their tolerance for the powerful drugs has plummeted. Many become homeless.
Others might be picked up by a friendly recruiter who helps them get into another sober home, where their insurer is obliged by recent federal laws — the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 — to start paying again after they’ve relapsed.
Past cases show that the cycle can continue until the insurance company stops paying on the patient’s 26th birthday, when the Affordable Care Act allows insurers to drop dependent care coverage under a parent’s policy.
For Johnson, one of the first clues that something was amiss with the addiction treatment center she sent her son to in Florida was a $13,000 charge to her insurance company for drug testing that her son said he never received.
Excessive numbers of urine drug tests and widely varying prices for them are just part of the insurance fraud schemes perpetrated by many of the same operators who pay patient brokers to deliver customers, prosecutors say.
In Maryland, state Rep. Karen Lewis Young, a Democrat who represents Frederick, is drafting a patient brokering bill that she plans to propose in the next legislative session with Republican cosponsor Rep. Jesse Pippy, she told Stateline in an interview. The idea for the law, she said, came from Johnson.
“These marketers are looking for young people with good insurance and vulnerable parents who want to do anything they can for their children. They’re targeting them,” Young said.
“Who could be against outlawing patient brokering?” she asked.
Dave Aronberg, the Palm Beach County, Florida, state attorney known for the nation’s first crackdown on patient brokering in 2016, said he and assistant state attorney Alan Johnson have been talking to advocates in Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania about enacting similar laws in their states.
They also worked with California officials to help craft a patient brokering law enacted there last year.
Initially, advocates for people with addiction opposed California’s law, worried it could be used to discriminate and concerned it could dampen a much-needed expansion in the addiction treatment business.
Local property owners said the bill didn’t go far enough to restrict the sober homes that were proliferating in their neighborhoods. And treatment companies and their attorneys wanted to make sure that handing out small freebies to their patients wouldn’t get them in hot water.
By describing how the patient brokering law worked in Florida, Aronberg and Johnson said, they were able to illustrate that the California law would improve the health and safety of people with addictions, while boosting relations between sober homes and their surrounding neighbors.
Aronberg also testified before Congress as it developed a 2018 federal anti-kickback law aimed at the addiction treatment industry.
In July, the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, released a template for a patient brokering statute based on Florida’s 2017 law.
“We’re seeing patient brokering and other unscrupulous forms of marketing show up all over the country now,” said Gary Tennis, president of the model drug law group.
“Even if it hasn’t hit your state yet, it’s coming,” he cautioned. “States need to be prepared with the right tools to combat it.”
The federal anti-kickback law only applies to federal health care programs and is not broad enough to address the full range of false marketing, insurance fraud and patient brokering that is occurring in the industry, Tennis and others say.
According to Aronberg, Palm Beach County police have arrested 95 allegedly fraudulent treatment operators and patient brokers in the past two years. The arrests and investigations, along with the local media attention they have garnered, have stanched the flow of vulnerable, young drug-addicted patients to South Florida, primarily from out-of-state, he said.
As a result, drug overdose deaths in Palm Beach County declined from 647 in 2017 to 400 in 2018, nearly a 40% drop, according to the state’s medical examiner.
Aronberg stressed that states need to take a multi-layered approach to beating addiction fraud. In 2017 and 2018, the Florida Legislature appropriated roughly $300,000 to help create a sober home task force to improve law enforcement strategies, develop new treatment industry ethics policies and inform the public about addiction treatment fraud. Those groups have been invaluable, he said.
“Forcing the addiction treatment industry to change its marketing approach made a huge difference,” Aronberg said. “That’s what lured unsuspecting people down to South Florida to ostensibly go through rehab.
“More than 75 percent of Palm Beach patients came from out of state, only to leave in an ambulance or a body bag,” he said.
“We believe we’ve cleaned up well over a majority of the problem here. Unfortunately, some of it has moved to other states,” he said. “Florida may now be the safest place you can send your loved one for treatment.”
In an opioid epidemic that is killing at least 130 U.S. residents every day, the demand for addiction treatment started rising sharply about a decade ago.
And with private insurers newly required to pay for behavioral health services to help people quit, the addiction treatment industry started booming.
The drug treatment industry became fertile ground for fraud once insurance money started rolling in, because unlike the rest of the medical profession, it historically had consisted of mostly small companies whose owners were in recovery themselves and were only lightly regulated by federal or state licensing and accreditation agencies, explained Peter Thomas, quality assurance officer for the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers.
“In the past, most treatment providers were in the business because they wanted to help others, not because they wanted to make money,” Thomas said.
In the past several years, though, investors who cared more about profits than patients have gotten into the business, he said. Insurance companies were taken advantage of and by 2016, they responded by tightening up their claims processing and authorization procedures, Thomas said.
“These changes have also challenged ethical treatment providers. But the scrutiny will be worth it if it weeds out the bad actors.”
Insurance providers argue that addiction treatment fraud not only puts patients’ lives in danger, but that it also raises overall health system costs and increases premiums for everyone, not just those sent to sober homes.
“These ‘sober homes’ are often associated with providers that do not provide evidence-based addiction treatment, frequently bill excessively for urine drug screening tests, and may be fraudulently billing multiple insurers for one patient’s services,” said Cathryn Donaldson, communications director for insurance industry trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, in a statement to Stateline.
“Even more alarming, there are reports of ‘sober homes’ that may perpetuate access to drugs that keep people addicted rather than assisting them in recovery, exacerbating the crisis,” she said.
Addicted since he was 17 after taking the opioid painkiller Percocet at a party, Marc had completed a 28-day intensive residential treatment program at a Maryland addiction center. But soon after he left treatment, it became clear he needed more help.
In an online group called The Addict’s Mom, Johnson found a young man who told her he was in recovery and would be willing to help her son get the treatment he needed. He told Johnson he’d look after her son and even gave him a free plane ticket to Florida.
“He seemed genuinely concerned about Marc, so I trusted him,” Johnson said. “He promised me he wouldn’t leave him on the street.”
But that’s exactly what happened.
Johnson had heard about fraudulent treatment centers in Florida that discharged kids when their insurance ran out, leaving them with nowhere to live and vulnerable to relapse.
But back then, she said she put too much trust in what she now realizes was a patient broker, and she didn’t fully understand how the scam worked.
Now she does. And she’s educating anyone who will listen, including state lawmakers, local county officials and state agencies.
Johnson’s son moved in and out of Florida treatment centers for four years and then got recruited to a California rehab center. That’s when Johnson intervened and brought him back home.
When Johnson talks to Maryland government officials and parents, she shares her worries that some of the charlatans she and her son encountered in Florida have moved to other states and may be running the same kind of scams there.
“I feel like I’m starting to make progress,” Johnson said on a recent warm afternoon as the sun poured through her office window.
“There are days when I can’t look at my computer or even engage with anyone on the phone. But that’s usually only for a day, and then somebody will call and I’m right back at it.”
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A woman who was attempting to transport over $82,000 of her father’s life savings on an airplane had the cash seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) without any crime being alleged, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The Washington Post reports that the cash belonged to 79-year-old Terry Rolin, who saved it up over his lifetime. His daughter, Rebecca Brown, told reporters that he was aging and worried about keeping so much cash on hand, so he asked her during one of her visits to open a joint bank account. Brown said was catching a flight home from Pittsburgh to Boston the next day and didn’t have time to stop at a bank, so she planned to bring the money in her carry-on.
The incident occurred at the Pittsburgh International Airport on Aug. 26.
Brown said that while she was going through a security checkpoint, the cash showed up on a security scan and she was questioned by agents with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). After explaining that the money was her father’s life savings, she was allowed to proceed to the gate.
At the gate, Brown was confronted by a DEA agent who subjected her to additional questioning before insisting that she put her father on the phone to confirm the story. Brown said that her father, who suffers mental decline, was unable to verify some details.
“He just handed me the phone and said, ‘Your stories don’t match,’” Brown told the Post. ”‘We’re seizing the cash.’“
Once on the plane, Brown said she frantically called her father and left seven messages trying to explain what happened.
The lawsuit says Brown was never told that her or her father were under suspicion of committing a crime–there is no limit to the amount of cash passengers on domestic flights in the US can carry. A search of her bag at the airport turned up no contraband. According to the Post, neither she or her father have criminal records.
In October, Brown received a notice that the DEA would permanently seize the cash, saying it would be used to combat crime.
The federal, class-action lawsuit was filed against the DEA, TSA and agency officials, claiming the agencies violate the Constitution’s ban on unlawful search and seizures by taking cash without probable cause. It seeks the return of Rolin’s money totaling $82,373 as well as an injunction against the practice.
“This is something that we know is happening all across the United States,” said Dan Alban, a senior attorney for the Institute of Justice, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Brown and Rolin. “We’ve been contacted by people who have been traveling to buy used cars or buy equipment for their business and had their cash seized.”
The practice is known as civil asset forfeiture, in which law enforcement agencies have the power to seize cash and property that they assert has been involved in criminal activity. The owner of the property doesn’t even need to be found guilty of a crime for their property to be seized.
According to the Post, The DEA made more than 8,850 seizures worth $539 million in 2017.
Both the DEA and TSA declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Brown explained to reporters that her grandparents kept their savings in cash because they lived through the bankruns of the Great Depression, and her father picked up the habit.
Brown said that her father’s loss of savings has prevented him from getting treatment for tooth decay and gum disease, and prevented the family from fixing his pickup truck, which is his only means of transportation.
“I get they are trying to quash drug distribution, but this is a blatant overreach,” Brown told the Post. “This is a working person, a taxpaying citizen of the United States trying to take care of her elderly parent, and they took the money.”
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Whеthеr уоur legal dispute involves a personal injury case, wrongful death case, insurance claim, family law, divorce, child custody (click here to get lawyers helping obtain child custody), оr child support case, уоu ѕhоuld strongly consider mediation tо attempt tо resolve уоur legal dispute thrоugh settlement, but Jensen divorce requirements is an important step if you’re following legal procedures.. If уоu hаvе аn attorney representing уоu, mediation wіll probably bе discussed durіng thе pendency оf уоur case. Yоu ѕhоuld tаkе a lead role іn assisting уоur attorney durіng thе process оf selecting a qualified аnd experienced mediator іn order tо optimize уоur chance оf successfully resolving уоur legal dispute. The Yaffa Family Law Group can help couples have an amicable divorce.
Definition оf Mediation
Mediation іѕ аn effective alternative dispute resolution method bу whісh parties tо a legal dispute agree tо hire a neutral thіrd party tо serve аѕ thе mediator. Thе mediator’s role іѕ tо learn thе facts оf thе case аnd arguments оf аll parties, tо promote communication bеtwееn thе parties, аnd tо facilitate thе parties wіth respect tо formulating a potential settlement оf thе legal dispute. Thе mediator remains neutral аnd ѕhоuld nоt provide legal advice tо thе parties.
Wіth respect tо аlmоѕt еvеrу civil lawsuit filed іn State Courts іn Texas, Judges wіll order thе attorneys аnd thе parties tо mediation prior tо trial. Hоwеvеr, thе process іѕ non-binding, meaning thаt уоu mау choose tо settle уоur case, оr alternatively, уоu mау choose nоt tо settle уоur case аnd proceed wіth уоur case іn Court. Nо оnе саn force уоu tо settle уоur case durіng mediation.
Whеthеr уоur legal dispute involves a civil lawsuit, a dispute іn whісh a lawsuit hаѕ уеt tо bе filed, аnd whеthеr оr nоt уоu hаvе аn attorney оr аrе representing уоurѕеlf, mediation саn bе used tо attempt tо resolve thе dispute wіth thе opposing party.
Goals оf Mediation
Thе purpose оf mediation іѕ tо provide thе parties a safe setting іn whісh settlement negotiations саn tаkе place аnd іn whісh a neutral thіrd party mediator саn assist thе parties іn exploring аnd facilitating potential settlement. Thе mediator ѕhоuld ensure thаt thе parties mediate іn good faith, meaning thаt еасh party agrees tо engage аnd participate іn thе process.
An effective mediator ѕhоuld accomplish thе following:
1. Preparation – properly prepare fоr thе mediation bу reviewing аll information provided tо thе mediator bу thе parties concerning thе case;
2. Neutrality – remain neutral аt аll times;
3. Nо legal advice – refrain frоm providing legal advice tо thе parties;
4. Understanding – ensure thаt аll parties know аnd understand thе process аnd rules оf mediation;
5. Communication – facilitate communication аnd settlement negotiations bеtwееn thе parties; аnd
6. Settlement Agreement – draft a quality Mediated Settlement Agreement incorporating аll terms оf thе settlement іn accordance wіth thе parties’ instructions.
Advantages оf Mediation
Thе advantages оf mediation аrе numerous аnd include thе following:
1. Cost Savings – ends thе need fоr continued expensive attorney’s fees, expert expenses, аnd costs оf litigation;
2. Avoidance оf Risk – lessens thе risks fоr thе parties іn thаt thе parties choose аnd formulate thе terms оf settlement, аѕ opposed tо leaving thе decision wіth respect tо thе legal dispute tо a Judge аnd jury;
3. Tіmе Savings – саn potentially resolve thе legal dispute іn a оnе day mediation session, аѕ opposed tо continued litigation whісh саn tаkе mаnу months оr еvеn years.
In family law cases, divorce mediation іѕ especially beneficial tо parents wіth children whо need tо learn tо negotiate аnd resolve disputes wіth еасh оthеr fоr thе best іntеrеѕt оf thе children.
Hiring a Quality Mediator
Hiring thе correct mediator as such m&a in Singapore are fоr уоur case optimizes thе potential fоr settlement оf уоur legal dispute. In choosing аnd hiring a quality mediator іn уоur case, уоu ѕhоuld learn thе background аnd experience оf thе potential mediator аnd consider thе following:
Iѕ thе mediator a licensed attorney whо hаѕ handled cases similar tо уоur legal dispute?
Whаt type оf training does thе mediator possess?
Whаt type оf reputation does thе mediator hаvе wіth respect tо hіѕ peers?
Sоmе quality mediators аrе nоt attorneys аnd nоt аll mediations require thе mediator tо bе аn attorney tо bе successful іn settling thе case; hоwеvеr, іt іѕ оftеn helpful tо hire a mediator whо іѕ аn attorney аnd hаѕ handled legal cases similar tо thе parties case. Thе benefit оf hiring ѕuсh аn attorney аѕ уоur mediator іѕ thаt thе attorney hаѕ knowledge аnd experience concerning thе law аnd whаt mау оr mау nоt happen wіth respect tо legal rulings аnd decisions thаt mау affect уоur case.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York company that was the first drug distributor to face U.S. felony charges for its role in fueling the opioid crisis said on Tuesday it will stop distributing controlled pharmaceuticals, which include opioids.
Rochester Drug Co-Operative Inc (RDC) announced the decision after agreeing last April to settle the charges by paying a $20 million fine and accepting independent monitoring, under a five-year deferred prosecution agreement.
RDC, one of the 10 largest U.S. drug distributors, said controlled pharmaceuticals represent a relatively small percentage of its sales but “significant legal and compliance expenses,” and that those costs are “simply not sustainable.”
The Rochester, New York-based company will keep distributing non-controlled, generic and private label drugs, as well as healthcare supplies. It said it serves 1,300 retail pharmacies, long-term care pharmacies and home healthcare stores.
In settling with the government, RDC admitted to having distributed oxycodone, fentanyl and other controlled substances to pharmacies despite internal “red flags” that they would be used improperly.
Opioids have contributed to more than 400,000 deaths since 1997, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal probe of whether several drug companies intentionally allowed large quantities of opioids to be shipped, contributing to the nationwide crisis.
At least two distributors, AmerisourceBergen Corp and McKesson Corp, have said in regulatory filings that they have been in communications with prosecutors’ offices.
RDC’s former chief executive, Laurence Doud, pleaded not guilty last April to criminal charges of conspiring to both distribute illegal drugs and defraud the government.
Jeff Eller, an RDC spokesman, said it is premature to discuss implementation of the deferred prosecution agreement.
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