Filed under: General Problems | 4 Comments »
TN: getting serious about the war on drugs… to bad that they don’t know what the hell they are doing
Posted on June 21, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
pass it on …
Posted on June 20, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
TO DO LIST:
File a complaint against ICE with Office for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, within Dept. of Homeland Security 202-401-1474
Call the RNC and blast them for trying to blame their policy on the Dems, as they engage in horrific cruelty. Let them know we’re on to their lies. 202-863-8500
Call the White House Comment line. Speak your mind as you choose. 202-456-6213
Call the DOJ Comment Line. Tell Jeff Sessions how you feel about separating children from parents at our border 202-353-1555
Call the United Nations, and tell them they must intervene, in any way they can 1-212-963-1234
File a complaint against ICE with Office for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, within Dept. of Homeland Security 202-401-1474Call the RNC and blast them for trying to blame their policy on the Dems, as they engage in horrific cruelty. Let them know we’re on to their lies. 202-863-8500Call the White House Comment line. Speak your mind as you choose. 202-456-6213Call the DOJ Comment Line. Tell Jeff Sessions how you feel about separating children from parents at our border 202-353-1555Call the United Nations, and tell them they must intervene, in any way they can 1-212-963-1234
Please call and share.
Filed under: General Problems | 5 Comments »
Man stole cancer patient’s painkillers before dumping body in woods, docs show
Posted on June 20, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
COVINGTON, KY (FOX19) –
A murder suspect is accused of stealing a cancer patient’s medication before dumping her body in a wooded area last week.
Kenneth Jones, 38, targeted his own cousin, Denita “Marci” Satchwell, in a plot to take her painkillers, according to court documents filed in Kenton County.
58-year-old Satchwell was a Stage 4 lung cancer patient and in “frail and in poor health,” documents show. Police called Satchwell an “easy target” for the robbery because she had a large number of painkillers in her Covington residence.
Satchwell was reported missing a little over a week ago. Her body was found Friday in the woods of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky.
The cause of her death is not known.
Covington Police discovered that Jones and an underage accomplice planned and carried out the robbery at Satchwell’s house, which “resulted in the death of the victim,” court documents show.
Jones stored Satchwell’s body in the trunk of a vehicle overnight, police said.
Jones and the juvenile then drove to Boone County and dumped the body in the woods. After that, the pair tried to remove DNA evidence from the vehicle.
They are both charged with murder, attempted robbery and tampering with evidence.
A third suspect, Braedon Reaves, 18, is charged with facilitation to homicide.
Jones is being held at the Kenton County Detention Center on a $1 million dollar bond.
Reaves is being held at the Kenton County Detention Center.
The juvenile is being held at the Campbell County Juvenile Detention Facility.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to call Detective Jess Hamblin at 859-292-2375.
Filed under: General Problems | 2 Comments »
CVS to pt: please take your prescriptions to another pharmacy.. don’t bother us with them…
Posted on June 20, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
Hi Steve my name is xxxxx and I’m having a problem with CVS filling my prescription for Norcos. I’ve been going to them for several years but every other month it seems they run out of the meds. Waiting for delivery. Tell me to go elsewhere etc. I’ve been getting the same prescription since 2008 now they say that my doctor is under investigation by the DEA and CVS corporate has issued them an email ORDERING THEM NOT to fill any of MY doctors medications. I already filed a complaint with the ADA so now what do I do?DO I contact corporate? The DEA? I am so frustrated. Thank you for any suggestions you may have.
Sincerely,
How to find a independent pharmacy that is less likely to screw with the valid medical needs of pts
http://www.ncpanet.org/home/find-your-local-pharmacy
And what do you think is going to happen if CVS is allowed to purchase Aetna with its 42 million beneficiaries ? As they mandate that those Aetna beneficiaries have to have all their prescription(s) filled at a CVS store or their mail order pharmacies… Can we expect them to start tossing to “the curb” pts that CVS has determined is unwelcomed in their stores as prescriptions customers either because of the prescriber that they see and/or the specific medications that they take IE: controlled substances.
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AMA opposes CVS-Aetna deal
Posted on June 20, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
AMA opposes CVS-Aetna deal
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/ama-opposes-cvs-aetna-deal/526112/
Dive Brief:
- The American Medical Association pushed against the CVS Health-Aetna deal during a hearing on the proposed acquisition in San Francisco Tuesday, warning it will would lead to “likely anti-competitive effects on Medicare Part D, pharmacy benefit management services, health insurance, retail pharmacy and specialty pharmacy.”
- Kristen Miranda, Aetna’s president of California and the head of the west territory, and Thomas Moriarty, CVS Health’s EVP, defended the merger’s potential benefits,
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including reducing healthcare costs, improving care coordination and helping patients with chronic illness, such as diabetes.
- AMA President Barbara McAneny said that the doctors’ group researched the matter for months, speaking to academic experts and others, but concluded the merger would lessen competition in many healthcare markets.
Dive Insight:
The $69 billion proposed CVS buy of Aetna is expected to close in the second half of the year. CVS and Aetna shareholders backed the purchase earlier this year. Company officials appeared before Congress in late February to discuss the deal and the Department of Justice is reviewing the purchase and its potential ramifications.
On Tuesday, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones held a hearing on the proposed deal, making it clear he has no decision-making power but wanting to give outside groups a forum to weigh in.
CVS and Aetna officials trumpeted potential cost savings in the deal. Moriarty said the merger could save $750 million in the first two years. He also spoke of the potential of CVS pharmacists taking a more active role in healthcare. Patients see their pharmacists more than they see their doctor. Moriarty said pharmacists could play a key role in complementing a doctor’s care.
Despite CVS and Aetna’s contentions, AMA President Barbara McAneny said that the doctors’ group ultimately concluded the merger would lessen competition in many healthcare markets.
“The AMA is now convinced that the proposed CVS-Aetna merger should be blocked,” McAneny said at the hearing.
The problems the AMA listed include:
- A possible increase in premiums connected to an increase in market concentration in 30 of 34 Medicare Part D regional markets.
- An anticipated increase in drug spending and out-of-pocket costs.
- A reduction in competition in health insurance markets that could lead to higher premiums and a reduction in the quality of insurance.
- The companies won’t be able to realize the efficiencies and benefits they’ve promised in the deal.
Other speakers also discussed concerns with the proposal, including worries about competition and what it will mean for consumers.
Supporters of the deal note the vertical merger will not raise the same competitive concerns cited in the DOJ’s opposition to Aetna’s proposed pact with fellow payer Humana in 2017. The CVS-Aetna deal is not the only vertical integration being discussed by a major payer. Humana is reportedly in early talks with Walmart on a deal that may involve strengthening partnerships or could even involve a purchase of the payer. And Express Scripts and Cigna are in the process of an attempted merger also.
The industry is watching the CVS-Aetna deal closely and whether the federal government will allow the purchase. If the vertical deal goes through, other payers and major companies will likely intensify talks for their own mergers.
including reducing healthcare costs, improving care coordination and helping patients with chronic illness, such as diabetes.
“reducing healthcare costs” can simply be had by providing less care and/or having more and more care being provided by mid-level practitioners – ARNP, PA, NP
“improving care coordination” could mean that those pts having Aetna insurance will be locked into using CVS provided care thru their in store clinics “nurse-in-a-box” and required all prescriptions be filled at a CVS store and/or thru their mail order service ?
I wonder if pts dealing with “chronic pain” will be considered “worthy” of getting help in managing their pain ?
Filed under: General Problems | 2 Comments »
CVS & Walgreens now providing/charging for a service that most independent pharmacies DO FOR FREE and SAME DAY
Posted on June 19, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »
Sounds like a medical-deity complex ?
Posted on June 19, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
he is being forced by Kaiser off his meds. (Which we have heard the same from others.. it’s totally happening there and at MAYO etc… super anti pain med mentality no exceptions. Then if you refuse they have a long reach to your regular Dr’s/ PM’s and you lose either way). But he works for the airlines…. making twelve grand a month at 52yo… since one of the reasons we can’t get a lawsuit together is our low net worth … this guy may be our ticket even at 52yo, especially if you guys know of other high earning, younger pain patients … maybe we could get a good law firm to take their case
And you will love this, his PM at Kaiser says she is one of the original writers or at least worked on the CDC Guidelines …. Wow! And is threatening to pull his drivers license too, ya know to save him & us all from his addictive meds. Crazy!
I had this article that I authored recently published on National Pain Report website.
www.nationalpainreport.com/do-we-need-to-educate-the-professionals-8836437.html
Do we need to educate the professionals?
While I am not an attorney, this person seems like the IDEAL CANDIDATE to teach some of these large corporate healthcare providers – or deniers – a major lesson…that corporations attempting to practice medicine is not within their corporate mandate nor do they have a the legal right to dictate how their employed prescribers practice medicine.
Attorneys generally look for two things FINANCIAL DAMAGES to a person and DEEP POCKETS and apparently this prescriber has taken it upon herself to cause severe financial damage to this chronic pain pt that has a job paying $12,000/month and she is going to take away both this 52 y/o’s pain medication and his driver’s license. Just do the math… $150,000/yr and he has at least another 13 yrs to work… that is only abt TWO MILLION in lost wages not to mention other benefits that come along with that well paying job…
My money is on that this is not the only pt that this prescriber is doing this to… so how many pts protected under the Americans with Disability Act & Civil Rights Act is being discriminated against by this one prescriber and what if this is a edict from Kaiser to all of their prescribers treating chronic pain pts ?… It is reported that Kasier has a annual operating budget of FIFTY BILLION !!! Can you say DEEP POCKETS ?
All it will take one Kaiser pt like this one and one of their employed prescribers that has just retired and/or ready to retire… and it will be just a matter of how many ZEROS will be on the settlement check from Kaiser.
And Kaiser is just one of untold number of corporate healthcare providers who are dictating how their employed prescribers are treating or not treating their pts. All it will take is one law firm to latch on to this “GOLDEN GOOSE” and the rest of the law profession will start circling like vultures.
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Steps You Can Take When You Receive the Wrong Medication and Get Sicker
Posted on June 19, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
Steps You Can Take When You Receive the Wrong Medication and Get Sicker
In April 2018, leading pharmacy trade magazine Drug Topics published a feature titled “Your 10 Worst Pharmacy Mistakes.” One pharmacists wrote about directing a parent to give a child a teaspoon of an opioid-infused cough suppressant instead of 1 milliliter. The mistake resulted in the child receiving a dose five times larger than prescribed, which could have killed the young patient.
Another pharmacist described how she believes she contributed to causing a co-worker’s death by dispensing powerful antibiotics to the individual right after the other woman went through a course of chemotherapy. Overusing antibiotics in cancer patients leaves them vulnerable to developing bacterial infections that will not respond to any medications.
Each day, mistakes by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians put patients’ lives at risk. The dangers increase in hospitals and nursing homes, where nurses and medical assistants administer multiple medications to individuals who often cannot describe how a new dosage or combination of drugs affects them. And, of course, patients and parents in their own homes lack the expertise to immediately recognize if the have been instructed to take an overdose, prescribed a medication that interacts badly with one they already take, or dispensed a medication intended for a different person.
Harm results from patients receiving the wrong drugs, the wrong doses, and the wrong mix of medications. Waiting too long between doses can causes life-threatening problems; so can administering doses too close together. And when any type of error is made, the outcomes can be severe.
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices reported that the “types of injuries reported in 2016 affected every body system and include severe damage to the kidneys and liver, fatal cardiac events, cancer, potentially life-threating allergic reactions, as well neuropsychiatric effects such as depression, suicidal thoughts, and aggressive and violent acts.” This, according to the ISMP, means that “the therapeutic use of drugs constitutes a major public health risk of the same order of magnitude as illicit use of drugs or violent crime.”
Pharmacists have professional and legal duties to limit the potential harm to patients. Meeting these duties requires them to double-check all filled prescription orders before dispensing them, educating other health care providers on how to recognize and safely administer medications, and counseling patients and parents on how to use drugs safely. The duty of pharmacists also extends to closely supervising and checking on the work of the pharmacy technicians who actually do much of the work related to filling prescription orders.
Patients do have some responsibilities for protecting themselves, as well. For instance, they should always read pill bottle labels and look at refills. If they spot anything different from what they have seen previously, they should bring the discrepancies to the attention of the pharmacist.
But, as noted, many patients cannot advocate for themselves. They rely entirely on the skills and professionalism of pharmacy staff, as well as their medical care providers. When a wrong drug or wrong dose harms them, they have rights to report and file claims for medical malpractice.
The first step must be seeking emergency medical care. Make sure the ER team knows all the medications the patient is currently taking. Include a list of health supplements, and be prepared to discuss what the patient ate and drank throughout the day on which serious symptoms or side effects occurred.
Make sure a knowledgeable pharmacist or physicians who was not previously treating the patient reviews all that information. If the review turns up evidence of a medication error, it is time to consult with a Virginia medical malpractice attorney who has experience helping victims of pharmacy errors. A case may well exist if the negligence resulted in death, hospitalization or the need for ongoing medical care.
Holding negligent pharmacy professionals accountable protects other patients from similar mistakes and secures money to pay the bills that the pharmacist’s error imposed.
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Human Rights are just for other countries… we play by our own rules ?
Posted on June 19, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
The USA has been discriminating against numerous protected groups in our country for years… just chronic painers and addicts count in the hundreds of millions … and now they want to make it official that they apparently wish to continue violating the human rights of our citizens going forward
Filed under: General Problems | 3 Comments »
Pt is SOL because pharmacy/pharmacist doesn’t want to keep inventory for her routine medication
Posted on June 19, 2018 by Pharmaciststeve
What is the pharmacy’s responsibility in filling an rx that they don’t have in stock? I live in Oklahoma. All schedule 2 Rxs must be submitted electronically ( or so I’ve bee told). Pharmacy law here states schedule 2 Rxs cant be transferred. How do I obtain my medication without having to wait another day or two? And yes my rx is eligible for fill on the date written. Basically I was told – by WalMart’s Pharmacist… I was SOL. Tried to get my dr to send to another pharmacy but he wasn’t in the office. Please advise. Thanks
response from pt:
Thank you! I called my pharmacy to discuss what you said about DEA allowing schedule 2 rxs to be transferred to another pharmacy… they say OK law doesn’t allow this. Also I’m not allowed to pick up my original rx and take it myself to another pharmacy. Walmart is the pharmacy in question. I’m going to take your advice on going to an independent pharmacy. Walgreens here in town is just as unreliable about keeping meds in stock. It shouldn’t be so hard to get meds!!!
Again thank u so much for your quick response and advice!
Within the last year, the DEA allowed pharmacies to transfer electronically submitted C-II’s to another pharmacy electronically… there still seems to be some hangups with states having to change their state laws to match the Federal DEA law and/or pharmacy computer system have not implemented the necessary software changes. A pt can’t “pick up ” the electronic Rx because all hard copy prescriptions have to be physically SIGNED by the prescriber. Having C-II’s electronically sent to a pharmacy can be very problematic being sent to pharmacies that is out of stock or just doesn’t want to fill it.
apparently one or more pharmacists at this particular Walmart in OK… was intentionally throwing this – and how many other pts – into cold turkey withdrawal without concerns about the pt’s quality of life (QOL) and them being able to function for a couple of days …waiting for them to get their ass in gear.
Some pharmacy practice acts states that (paraphrased) a pharmacy is required to maintain adequate stock to be able to fill the typical/normal medications that they have requests for in their market place.
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