Walgreens decides that its ~ 8000 pharmacies will no longer fill controlled Rxs from a specific prescriber

I am disabled. 66yrs old and all alone. I live in FL.
I have been on two controlled pain medications for 23 years. I have cancer and several other debilitating injuries and illnesses. In chronic pain!

I just recvd a letter from Walgreens
(See below) and I have only 6 days of medicine left before I am totally out!

I will not only be in severe pain but I will end up in the hospital! You can’t just go off this medicine. I have been going to the same Dr for 15+ yrs and the same Walgreens’s and the same pharmacist for 15 yrs. as well!

BUT I JUST GOT THIS LETTER FROM WALGREENS.
What does this mean?

I have another one of these letters from Walgreen addressed to a pt in Washington State from July 2023. The only thing different is the name of the doctor that they are no longer filling control meds for.

I did a blog post a few months ago, where there are several hyperlinks, explaining how 41 State AGs got the three largest drug wholesalers and the three largest chain pharmacies agreed to sell and fill fewer controlled meds.  https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/dea-proposed-reduction-in-pharma-controlled-med-production-quotas/ 

From the text in the letter, it would appear that Walgreens is using some statistical analysis to determine what prescribers in a specific area are the outliers in writing the number of controlled meds and/or the most MMEs.

I would find the phrases in the letter quite humorous if it wasn’t that Walgreens was tossing pts taking controlled meds and who are highly likely to be disabled pt. So they are sorry for the inconvenience of probably throwing these pts into cold turkey withdrawal and possibly throwing them into a torturous level of pain.  Below is the text from CMS website on discrimination of pts on Medicare or Medicaid. Is Walgreens directly or indirectly discriminating against this – and other pts – because they know how difficult to impossible it is for pts to find a new prescriber and/or new pharmacy to fill those C-II Rxs?  It is clear in the Walgreens letter that Walgreens only questions this particular prescriber’s competency to appropriately prescribe controlled meds.

Nondiscrimination Notice
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) doesn’t exclude, deny benefits to, or otherwise
discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, sex (including
sexual orientation and gender identity), or age in admission to, participation in, or receipt of the services
and benefits under any of its programs and activities, whether carried out by CMS directly or through a
contractor or any other entity with which CMS arranges to carry out its programs and activities.
You can contact CMS in any of the ways included in this notice if you have any concerns about
getting information in a format that you can use.
You may also file a complaint if you think you’ve been subjected to discrimination in a CMS program
or activity, including experiencing issues with getting information in an accessible format from
any Medicare Advantage Plan, Medicare drug plan, state or local Medicaid office, or Marketplace
Qualified Health Plans. There are three ways to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights:
1. Online: hhs.gov/civil-rights/filing-a-complaint/complaint-process/index.html
2. By phone: Call 1-800-368-1019. TTY users can call 1-800-537-7697.
3. In writing: Send information about your complaint to:
Office for Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, D.C. 20201

 

 

COPS, PAIN, COURTS TO PRISON THE RESHAPING OF PAIN HEALTHCARE AND ADDICTION: FASTRACK PATHWAY IN BECOMING A FEDERAL JUDGE

Among the higher-profile cases that McMillion worked on was the prosecution of Dr. Rajendra Bothra of Bloomfield Hills, who faced charges in an alleged $500 million health care fraud scheme. Bothra was acquitted last year after spending three years in jail prior to his trial. Bothra was found not guilty of more than 40 federal counts along with his former employees, Ganiu Edu, David Lewis, Christopher Russo in what was considered one of the biggest losses for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in more than 10 years. The one-year anniversary of the acquittal is Thursday.President Joe Biden plans to nominate another Michigan prosecutor to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Brandy R. McMillion,

WHEN COPS AND COURTS ARE PRACTICING MEDICINE: THE PARALLEL HISTORIES OF DRUG WAR 1 AND DRUG WAR ll (EXCERPTS/UPDATE)

TAKING THEM TO THE DEEP END WHERE MEDICAL SCIENCE AND FACTS ARE ON THE STAND: PART-2 OF THE CHRISTOPHER RUSSO, MD STORY WHO CHOSE TO FIGHT DOJ-DEA PROSECUTION AND FOUND NOT GUILTY

 

FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFFERSON BEAUREGARD SESSION

PART-2: DR. CHRISTOPHER RUSSO, MD: ON MEDICINE VS. THE DECEPTION OF LAW “TAKING THEM TO THE DEEP END OF THE MEDICAL POOL WHERE SCIENCE AND FACTS WERE ON THE STAND”

HAS THE WAR ON DRUGS TURN INTO A WAR ON YOUR PAIN AND YOUR DOCTOR: DR. CHRIS RUSSO, MD: ON MEDICINE VS. THE DECEPTION OF THE LAW, A CLOWN SHOW

BY DR. CHRISTPHER RUSSO, MD HIS WAR ON THE DEA PART-1

 

 

DR. CHRISTOPHER RUSSO,MD: ON MEDICINE VS. THE DECEPTION OF LAW; “ANATOMY OF THE CLOWN SHOW” TELLING IT RAW” (Prt-1)

 

How Beneficiaries Really Feel About Medicare Advantage vs Traditional Medicare

How Beneficiaries Really Feel About Medicare Advantage vs Traditional Medicare

MA plans offer “extra benefits” but many go unused. Is Medicare Advantage really better?

https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/features/108846

Survey results released today contradict widely-held beliefs that Medicare Advantage enrollees are more satisfied because they receive better health services than those in traditional Medicare.

On the contrary, respondents in the two types of Medicare plans reported equal satisfaction, although more Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees than traditional Medicare (TM) beneficiaries said their care was delayed because of the need for prior approval. This trend sheds light on potential considerations for those exploring Medicare Advantage plans 2024.

The reportopens in a new tab or window by The Commonwealth Fund analyzed responses from 3,280 Medicare beneficiaries between November 6, 2023, and January 4 in an effort to learn “What Do Medicare Beneficiaries Value About their Coverage?” Those surveyed gave their opinions on the ease of their access to benefits, care coordination, services, and satisfaction.

“Overall, the experiences seem to be similar for those in traditional Medicare versus Medicare Advantage, with some notable exceptions,” Gretchen Jacobson, PhD, vice president of Commonwealth’s Medicare program, told MedPage Today.

The comparison of beneficiary experiences in each model is important because roughly half, or 52% of 66 million eligible people, are now enrolled in MA plans, to which federal funds pay billions more than for TM care. In 2024, for example, MA plans are expected to receive $88 billionopens in a new tab or window more than what would have been spent if the same people were in TM.

Although there are efforts underway to contain that spending through new payment policiesopens in a new tab or window, MA enrollment is projected to continue rapid growth. So it’s important that taxpayers understand what they’re getting for all that extra money.

A perhaps surprising finding of the survey was MA enrollees’ relatively low use of their “extra benefits,” such as vision, hearing, and dental care, considering that plans aggressively market these benefits to encourage signups. Jacobson noted that Medicare pays the plans $1,915 a year per enrollee for these benefits, according to the 2023 annual reportopens in a new tab or window from the Medicare trust funds’ trustees. These extras are not covered under TM.

For example, 31% of MA enrollees hadn’t used any of their benefits in the last 12 months, 58% hadn’t used dental benefits, 59% hadn’t used vision benefits, 93% hadn’t used hearing benefits, 81% hadn’t used the gym membership, and 54% hadn’t used their over-the-counter medication allowance. Other benefits such as meal delivery and an allowance for groceries may be less frequently offered by the plans, but 98% and 88%, respectively, said they hadn’t used them.

“Because this is an important component of what Medicare Advantage plans are offering, we need to understand better why they aren’t using them, and whether these are the benefits people really want,” she said.

For those who hadn’t used any benefits, 63% of respondents said they didn’t need them, 24% said they didn’t know what benefits the plans offered, 9% said the benefits were hard to use, and 4% said the costs were too high.

Some underlying reasons for the low rates of use, not specified in the report, could be because of restrictions. Perhaps the networks or setting one would have to use — for example, a group of dentists — excludes one who has long served the family. But it also might be because enrollees don’t know about them or forgot about them, despite the ubiquitous advertisingopens in a new tab or window that prominently pitches them.

A CMS proposed ruleopens in a new tab or window would, if finalized, require MA plans to send mid-year notices to enrollees about any unused benefits, to “ensure MA plans are better stewards of the rebate dollars directed towards these benefits,” the proposed rule says.

A big selling point for MA plans is that their providers cooperate within carefully picked integrated networks and coordinate care far better than providers who treat TM beneficiaries.

But here, the survey responses revealed another contradiction. Regardless of whether they had an MA or a TM plan, about an equal number of respondents said they coordinate their healthcare services themselves: 75% in MA and 73% in TM.

Some 7% of people on MA said their plan helps to coordinate their care, Jacobson said. “It seems as though the plans are certainly not the primary care coordinator for most Medicare Advantage enrollees.”

Jacobson acknowledged that MA plan providers might be coordinating their patients’ care in ways enrollees aren’t aware. “But from the beneficiaries’ perspective, they don’t see their plan having a large role in coordinating care.”

Another counterintuitive finding is that a similar percentage of MA and TM respondents said they waited more than one month to see a doctor (36% and 34%), perhaps suggesting that MA enrollees do not get faster access for appointments. “Access to providers seems to be similar, which is counter to some thoughts around the limitations around provider networks,” Jacobson said.

Of the MA plan respondents, 22% said their care was delayed because it required approval, compared with 13% of TM beneficiaries. Far fewer services under TM require pre-approval compared with MA, so it was unclear why so many TM beneficiaries encountered obstacles.

Another surprise was that a larger share of people in MA said they had problems affording care compared with people in TM, “which is contrary to how we typically think of Medicare Advantage,” Jacobson said. “It doesn’t appear that Medicare Advantage plans are necessarily making care more affordable for people.”

Similar percentages of the two beneficiary groups also said their benefits do not cover what they needed, that they were unsure of what benefits they had, that costs were too high, and that they need transportation to access benefits.

Jacobson noted that if Medicare pays more per capita to MA plans than for TM care, it results in higher Part B premiums to all beneficiaries, regardless of what type of plan they’re in. Most frequently, the premium is paid through an amount withheld from their social security retirement benefit checks.

Another finding of note evaluated health risk assessments both types of Medicare patients received in the last year. Of those who received them, few said it caused their doctor to change their care or led to more services or benefits. Only 6% of both MA and TM beneficiaries said their doctor changed their care plan as a result.

“This really calls into question the value that these assessments are providing to beneficiaries and what frequency it’s important to have them,” Jacobson said.

Asked if the survey responses may raise questions about whether MA plans are worth their extra cost, Jacobson replied: “What our survey shows is that the experiences people report seem to be similar overall for those in Medicare Advantage versus traditional Medicare.”

That, she said, makes it “worth assessing the relative value of care and benefits people in Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare are receiving relative to the amount spent by the federal government. This is worth keeping an eye on as enrollment in Medicare Advantage grows.”

Because it’s well known that Medicare recipients are frequently confused over what kind of coverage they have, the plan type was verified through Zoom calls in which respondents showed their plan card.

 

COPS AND COURTS PRACTICING MEDICINE ” …OH MY…”

 

CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS….OH MY…

COPS PRACTICING MEDICINE: THE PARALLEL HISTORIES OF DRUG WAR 1 AND DRUG WAR ll (EXCERPTS)

 

Section 1306.04(a) “prohibit[s] a pharmacist from filling a prescription for a controlled substance when she either knows or has reason to know that the prescription was not written for a legitimate medical purpose.” WHEN IT COMES TO THE WHITE HOUSE WHERE WAS/IS THE DEA????

The probe concluded that the White House Medical Unit’s pharmacy operations had “severe and systemic problems” without oversight, and dispensed prescription medications to ineligible White House staff.”

 

WHITE HOUSE MEDICAL UNIT’S MASS ORDER OF FENTANYL RAISES QUESTIONS: “NOW, WHERE WAS THE DEA…IN THIS US. CODE 842(a)(1), U.S.C. /829, SECTION 1306.04(a) VIOLATION PROHIBITION OVER-PRESCRIBING AND DRUG TRAFFICKING PUNISHABLE 20 YRS PRISON??”

 

SENATORS DEMAND ATTORNEY GENERAL GARLAND TO “END PREDICTIVE POLICING”

THE TERMINATOR

 

U.S. LEGISLATORS LETTER OF INQUIRY AND REVIEW DEMANDING AG MERRICK GARLAND HALT ALL PREDICTIVE POLICING INVESTIGATIONS UNDERMINES AND DEMONSTRATES DR. TIM KING’S COURT TESTIMONY AND DEA ANN MILGRAM’S MONEYBALLING ARE FRAUDULENT

 

ATTY RONALD CHAPMAN SPEAKS: THE SERIOUS FLAWED TESTIMONY OF DOJ-DEA EXPERT DR. TIMOTHY KING: United States Supreme Court Justice Justice Potter Stewart in US vs Moore, 1975 ” it bothers me that this kind of evidence can send a person to prison”

JUSTICE POTTER STEWART, 1975 US vs. Moore
““…And is it not true that historically, most, if not all, of the great breakthroughs and advances in medical science have been made by people who did not follow the conventional way of doing things? They followed a new way, their way, and most of the conventional physicians of their day would have disagreed with them because this is not the way it has always been done. And if that is the new — it bothers me that this kind of evidence can send a person to prison for as long as this has been going, some many, many years, but in any event, that that is the sort of evidence that is the basis for criminal liability…”

PHYSICIAN DEFENSE ATTY RONALD CHAPMAN

ATTY. RONALD CHAPMAN SPEAKS: AUDIO HISTORY OF NARCOTIC LAWS AND PROSECUTIONS, TRIAL OF DR. KENDALL HANSEN MD., “THE LESSONS MISSING THAT GIVES RISE TO THE FLAWED CREDIBILITY OF BOTH ERIC DETER AND DR. TIMOTHY KING, MD.”

 

Bob Sheerin – Everyone always talks quietly about so here it is

Bob and I became friends after someone convinced me to join the APDF’s BOD, some 4-5 yrs ago. Bob has very good intentions. Like many other chronic painers who are also advocates, many practitioners have built-in biases about taking advice about pain management from someone who does not have a medical background.  Often they are viewed as supporting prescribing a controlled substance and/or advocating against some of the medications that are prescribed off-label for pain. While Bob’s batting average is not a 1000 on advocating for chronic pain pts, no one’s is. Because of Bob, there is a large number of end-stage pediatric cancer pts who had a less painful last few days/weeks/months of their life and parents who did not have to see their kids live in agony the last days/weeks/months and they had many “extra days” with their kid.

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02FctV3nSsuPBKtFcKxEtAB4iCjmDcVAEMc6GaNfuR8StgA9hHLT7azdUeC7mDYGe9l&id=100000102313523&mibextid=Nif5oz

Everyone always talks quietly about so here it is 🤣
Several years ago several great advocates helped me at my lowest point in life! I had a medtronics pain pump before they were popular out of pure pure desperation! A man named Steve Ariens & a other wonderful lady named Maria Higginbotham didn’t judge me … Didn’t tell me what a POS I was and offered to help me! I watched Maria on nightline with Lester Holt and Kate Snow and was in awe of this brave lady dumping her surgical parts on the table infront of the world on live TV.. I spent my and my family’s life saving on lawyers and courts! I won and lost the case 5 times! I was sentenced to 109 weeks in county jail for driving with a pain pump even know Medtronics admitted pump recalls and failures! I did 12 weeks and the appeals court redid my sentence to 0 jail time and the supreme court of KY ruled “NO Tolerance!” The local judge took pity on me and didn’t make me serve the rest of the time on my sentences! The pump was replaced and they made me go to 1 year of alcohol classes even know I didn’t drink 🤣 and I didn’t take oral medications at the time and frustration was not the word I’d use! Everytime I was booked in the county jail Friday I was released on Sunday at 6pm 🤣! Hints the 50 mugshots 🤣! I never really talked about it before except with family and friends. All the charges have been expunged and my license has been restored and my insurance is again affordable! Life changing to say the least and I’ve never felt so damn alone! I had doctors and a great pharmacist in my corner with a really expensive lawyer 🤣! So when it was all said and done I brushed myself off and opened the pumpsters on Yahoo with other advocates to help others that needed help! Later the pain pump support group Medtronics and Flowonix. Later burned my hand cooking catfish and met a little girl named Kaylee at the 11th floor @ Vanderbilt burn Center in Nashville who was severely burned who changed my life! Her daddy sprayed charcoal starter fluid on the burn pile and lite them both up.. Dad was having a few beers on his mower and they both caught fire and dad was arrested! Mom was by herself while they were stripping skin to get burn medication on her burn. The child was screaming and I through a damn fit! Sheesh I burnt my hand and it hurt like a summabitch and I couldn’t imagine the burn on my chest and thighs like little Kaylee 🥲! My mom and daughter had to sit in the car because no one was allowed in Vanderbilt because of covid! Anyways long story short my fit turned into a passion to help kids in pain and I figured I owed a little because of the advocates that helped me! Her dad was sentenced to 2 years in prison and the lawyer we paid at APDF paid off the house with the money that was awarded to the momma for settlement for not treating Kaylee while treating her for burns! So never the less I’m far from a Saint 🤣! Not even a little bit! Matter of fact I’m a good friend to many but kind of an asshole as well 🤣! I started out being ashamed and embarrassed and many advocates stepped up for me! So no I didn’t start the program it kinda started me and my advocacy! Today I deal with blood cancer and back surgeries, knees, shoulder, and have wonderful advocates that I call my family and would do anything for! I don’t condone drunk anything and even advocated for several inmates as yall who followed me can see 🤣!What I do know is not everyone who gets in trouble isnt a bad guy! I do know that today’s pain world makes us all a little criminal 🤣 and it’s definitely because of the goverments actions and real advocates & Doctors know exactly what I mean! Although I didn’t deserve the sentence I received I took it as a learning process and I’ve never hid it from anyone who asked and even asked a big advocate for help who posted my mug shot all over the internet 🤣! I take responsibility for everything in my life failures and big wins! They say things happen for a reason and what happened to me lead to alot of damn people getting the help that they need.. I don’t always win and can’t help everyone but I have always done my best! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it 🤣 Anyways I have heard alot of rumors and I sometimes wish they weren’t true 🤣 but most are! 🤣 Today I’m proud of my past and what I plan for the future! The only apologies I owed was to my family for not listening when they said I was acting funny on new pump medication while my pump was starting and stopping at its convenience! It has never bothered me until recently when I hear folks say stuff like don’t trust that guy because he’s a jail bird & those kids are probably made up 🤣! I rather them thank Steve Ariens or Maria Higginbotham for getting me pissed off enough to do something about it! 🥰🥰🥰 I’m sure most don’t know my story or really know me at all! I’m just a farm owner from Cerritos, California Via KY with 4 kids 35b 32g 16g 13g and several grandkids that make me happy! I do travel alot and go where I’m needed thanks to APDF and the awesome staff that helped me survive and asked me to help the charity! Anyways I hope I put the rumors to bed finally and I’ve hoped I’ve earned trust and respect for doing what I love to do! Total income from APDF Charity $0.00 in 5 long years and many many kids and adults!