AG Session: sizable number of physicians who were over prescribing opioid pain pills, which were not helping people get well

Utilizing the palliative care “loophole” in chronic pain management

www.medium.com/@aaronsells/utilizing-the-palliative-care-loophole-in-chronic-pain-management-6a25611a6f21

The DOJ is successfully escalating angst among general practitioners, who are already reluctant to prescribe narcotics above guidelines, (that were established by the CDC), out of fear of being targeted as outliers by the DEA. In turn, many patients with intractable pain are forced to, “make due”, with what pain medication they are prescribed, and tension runs high between appointments as their doctors push for even further tapering.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in January that over the next 45 days, a “surge” of Drug Enforcement Administration agents and investigators will focus on pharmacies and prescribers who are dispensing unusual or disproportionate amounts of opioid drugs.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has arrested 28 people and revoked the registrations of over a hundred others in a nationwide crackdown that targeted prescribers and pharmacies that dispense “disproportionally large amounts” of opioid medication.

For 45 days in February and March, a special team of DEA investigators searched a database of 80 million prescriptions, looking for suspicious orders and possible drug thefts.

The so-called “surge” resulted in 28 arrests, 54 search warrants, and 283 administrative actions against doctors and pharmacists. The DEA registrations of 147 people were also revoked — meaning they can no longer prescribe, dispense or distribute controlled substances such as opioids.

The DEA said 4 medical doctors and 4 medical assistants were arrested, along with 20 people described as “non-registrant co-conspirators.” The arrests were reported by the agency’s offices in San Diego, Denver, Atlanta, Miami and Philadelphia.

In an interview with AARP, Sessions defended the use of data mining to uncover health care fraud.“Some of the more blatant problems were highlighted in our Medicare fraud take down recently where we had a

sizable number of physicians that were over prescribing opioid pain pills which were not helping people get well,

but instead were furthering an addiction being paid for by the federal taxpayers. This is a really bad thing,” Sessions said.“It’s a little bit like these shysters who use direct mail and other ways to defraud people. They will keep doing it until they’re stopped. In other words, if we don’t stop them, they will keep finding more victims and seducing them.”

As a growing trend of doctors across America voluntarily leave pain management, their patients are left without medical care. From there, the sick and disabled get bounced back to primary care. General practitioners, no longer in the business of treating pain, can only offer referrals but rarely communicate or follow up with their colleagues to facilitate a comparable continuity of care. These limitations have been further aggravated, through an effective surreptitious recruitment campaign organized by Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Co-Director of Opioid Policy Research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, christened PROP (Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing). Armed with government propaganda, Prop docs function as the CDC mouthpiece and have infiltrated teaching universities, medical schools, CME courses,and large HMOs. There they double down and intentionally disseminate biased misinformation, present flimsy evidence as a matter of fact that, more often than not, aggregates chronic pain and addiction. Is there any way around this patient-doctor dilemma?

In an interview with AARP, Sessions defended the use of data mining to uncover health care fraud. “Some of the more blatant problems were highlighted in our Medicare fraud takedown recently, where we had a sizable number of physicians who were overprescribing opioid pain pills, which were not helping people get well, but, instead, were furthering an addiction, [all] being paid for by the federal taxpayers. This is a really bad thing,” Sessions said. “It’s a little bit like these shysters who use direct mail and other ways to defraud people. They will keep doing it until they’re stopped. In other words, if we don’t stop them, they will keep finding more victims and [keep] seducing them.”
As a growing trend of doctors across America voluntarily leave pain management, their patients are left without medical care. 
From there, the sick and disabled get bounced back to primary care. General practitioners, no longer in the business of treating pain, can only offer referrals, but, they rarely communicate with, or follow up with, their colleagues to facilitate a comparable continuity of care. These limitations have been further aggravated through an effective, surreptitious

recruitment campaign organized by Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Co-Director of Opioid Policy Research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, christened PROP (Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing). Armed with government propaganda, Prop docs function as the CDC mouthpiece, and have infiltrated teaching universities, medical schools, CME courses, and large HMOs. There, they double down and intentionally disseminate biased misinformation, present flimsy evidence as a matter of fact that, more often than not, aggregates chronic pain and addiction. 

Is there any way around this patient-doctor dilemma?

The answer might be as simple as a physician order for palliative care — a treatment option already covered by CMS and most private insurance. You can have it at any age and any stage of an illness, but, early on in your illness is recommended.
Palliative care, (pronounced pal-lee-uh-tiv), is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family. Palliative care is provided by a specially-trained team of doctors, nurses and other specialists who work together with a patient’s other doctors to provide an extra layer of support. It is appropriate at any age, and at any stage in a serious illness, and it can be provided along with curative treatment¹

View at Medium.com

7 Responses

  1. What is Sessions getting from his war on legal opioid prescription users? The cutback in spending from Medicare and Medicaid programs? The upcoming cutbacks from Social Security Disability payouts as more chronic pain patients commit suicide because they can no longer live with their disabling, incurable, intractable pain? Or is he getting kickbacks from the cartels as some chronic pain patients turn to the streets for pain relief? Having chronic pain patients fill in for the addicts that have died due to the fentanyl?
    We all know that most politicians reason for doing anything always comes back to money.
    These rebuplicans that say they are Christians are definitely not following the teachings of Christ. Because nowhere do I see any of them caring for the sick, the orphaned, or the elderly.

  2. Mr.Areins,,please save this,,,,for if JEFF SESSION WORDS ,” NOT HELPING PEOPLE GET WELL,” ARE NOT PRACTING MEDICINE,,,,THEN WHAT IS,,,,IS JEFF SESSION A M.D. TO DECIDE WHO,WHAT OR WHY PEOPLE W/MEDICAL DESEASE DON’T GET WELL???WHAT AN IDIOT,,,WE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO DON’T GET WELL,,,THERE ARE NO CURES FOR MANY IN PAINMANAGEMENT HENCE WE ARE IN PAIN MANAGEMENT,,,,WHAT AN IDIOT,,,HIS OWN WORRDS SHOWS HOW STUPID HE IS OF OUR MEDICAL CONDITIONS!!!many medical disease’s have no cure,,,,thus why,,,were on medicine,,u idiot,,maryw

  3. “which were not helping people get well”

    How in the hell does this moron breathe with his head stuck so far up his a**?? Insulin does not “cure” any disease nor do beta blockers, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, and a large majority of the other medications available on the market. They simply treat the symptoms. Why in the hell is it so hard to apply that same concept with opioid-based medication???

  4. Unless of course, you lie in Oregon where they’re changing the definition of palliative care so that it only applies to people with terminal conditions & a short time left.

    Sessions is such an astoundingly ignorant, vile, sadistic excuse for a human being it makes me nauseous to know he’s in charge of anything, much less is our AG. And I keep imagining all the illegal drug dealers just laughing their butts off at the fact that the DEA & the rest of our judicial & law enforcement system is spending all their time & energy going after doctors & patients, thus giving the illegal drug folks a free field to do their business. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the diversion of legal & law enforcement resources had a direct bearing on the increasing numbers of ODs from illegal drugs –which is the TRUE problem.

    • that should’ve started “live in Oregon”, not “lie.” Though many CPPs are going to be lying under Oregon soil after they succeed in their cross-the-board opioid ban.

    • “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the diversion of legal & law enforcement resources had a direct bearing on the increasing numbers of ODs from illegal drugs”

      There is no doubt in my mind this is what is happening. I would also add that some of those ODs and OD deaths were desperate attempts at suicide, which is now at a 30 year high. Also, the DEA was well-aware of heroin and counterfeit opioid-based meds being spiked with illicitly-manufactured fentanyl (usually unknowingly to the buyer) since 2014 because I remember finding an article dated in 2014 quoting the DEA about illicit fentanyl. (This was not a major news source btw. It was some random article I stumbled across).

      That being said, illicit fentanyl has been widely abused by the US and Europe in the past – late 60’s into very early 80’s, known as China White (back then). This was many years prior to the FDA approval of fentanyl citrate being made available in the form of a patch or lozenge for palliative care within the home. I’m thinking I read that prior to the patches, fentanyl was available only in hospitals in the form of an injectable. (Steve, please correct me if I’m wrong).

      Back to 2014, I want to know why the DEA never issues warnings/ I want to know how many illicit-fentanyl related deaths were tossed into the number of prescription opioid related deaths (as they could not – and still may not be able to – detect which analog of fentanyl was in a tox report). I never read or saw anything mentioned about illicit fentanyl until around 2016 (maybe the end of 2015). Why did the DEA allow this to go on so long without issuing statements to the public?

      Re: Sessons – I’m truly starting to wonder if he’s really *this* ignorant. Seriously, how can anyone be as stupid as he is and still manage to remember to breath? It’s almost like he’s being purposely obtuse … perhaps out of gaining financially for himself from this amped up war … Either way, you’re right. He’s a vile, sadistic excuse for a human who is not just allowing the cartels to profit but helping them profit so largely.

      • Tracey;
        you’re so right about the fentanyl issue, which is more than I can say for the folks in charge of the Oregon palliative care redefinition & “ban all opioids” policy…they talk as if they’re convinced there’s a fentanyl-proof force field surrounding the state, that the ONLY problem here (unlike the other 49 states) is from prescription drugs; so if they get rid of Rx opioids no one will OD from drugs (this is pretty much the same group who were sure that if they banned OTC sudafed the meth problem would go away. It didn’t –surprise!– but they quit talking about it, so apparently they don’t care about it any more).

        You’re probably also right about Sessions profiting; God knows that Kolodny & his ilk stand to make zillions (& probably already are raking it in).

        I feel like we’re living in a redux of the era of the Vanderbilts, Astors, & other Robber Barons, when money could do anything & there was absolutely nothing the “little people” could do about it. I’ve never in my life wanted more money than I needed to cover basic bills…as a lifelong biologist I knew I’d never get rich & didn’t care. Until I found myself in a position of being completely broke all the time & helpless to fight back against people with money & power & the ruthlessness to destroy lives & not giving the tiniest ship about things like compassion, mercy, empathy, & all those other “weaknesses.” I wish I were richer than Bill Gates & thus be in the position to be able to fight back.

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