Conflict of interest shouldn’t be of concern…

State closes another pharmacy, pushes board member to resign

per the article:

Department of Public Health interim commissioner Lauren Smith said…“Given the ongoing investigation, we believe it is in the best interest of the board to have Ms. Pasedis step down”

Pasedis is recorded on state records as the manager of Ameridose, which has been shuttered since its sister company, NECC, was implicated in the nationwide fatal meningitis scandal linked to its steroid injections.

“She’s not resigning,” said Pasedis’ attorney Thomas R. Kiley. “We don’t see a need to, practically. Her memory is she has recused herself. The reality is, moving forward, she’s not about to participate anything related to the sister company.”

IMO… what a lame statement from her attorney… you just don’t erase your mis-deeds from the past and move forward and don’t expect any consequences from the previous mis-deeds. No one would ever convicted of any crime working under that pretense.

I find it hard to believe that Ms Pasedis did not know or should have known that NECC was compounding in quantities outside of the limits of its pharmacy license. Did she have a responsibility – as a member of  the MA BOP – to alert inspectors of such conditions? Is this a violation of her duties as a member of the board to protect the public’s health & safety? As a Pharmacist, is such actions, in-actions should be consider unethical or even unprofessional. Should she and the other MA BOP members who are Pharmacist that knew or should have known what was going on at NECC… have their license suspended or levied substantial fines?… and not stay the suspension or fines!

One Response

  1. Vested interest.

    How can this be a national trend in pharmacy, when the profession was started to provide a legal precedent differentiating apothecaries from physician dispensers?

    Can I buy membership in the AMA like I can in any national pharmacy organization?

    Why is a non-pharmacist Catamaran board member on the roster of a number of pharmacy organizations? From Catamaran website “As Senior VP, Industry Relations, he [Mark Thierer, Chairmand and CEO Catamaran] built executive-level supply chain relationships with pharmaceutical, biotech and generic drug companies and established Caremark’s contracting relationships with major chain drug stores such as Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart and Rite Aid. Prior to Caremark, he spent 10 years at IBM … held positions of increasing responsibility in sales management … .”

    “Mr. Thierer … serves as incoming Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) … maintains active memberships in National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP), Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), and … Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). …serves on Board of Museum of Science and Industry and … Lyric Opera of Chicago. He is active in the Economic Club, serves on board of the Executive’s Club of Chicago and CEOs Against Cancer.”

    How did Catamaran manage to acquire exclusive PBM contracts with medicaid programs of Indiana? Same way (ex-governor?) Mitch Daniels and all that businessscum privatized and leased state toll roads to an ‘international consortium” for 75 years from 2006? The route to US success as directed by ‘successful’ American businessscum; outsourcing work to foreign companies? Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to NOT involve a private siphon of government tax-payer funding for a government administered program?

    From October 23 2012 newssources, “Catamaran announced it has been awarded HCIT [Healthcare Informatics Technology] contracts to provide implementation, adjudication, and certain PBM services to the State of Indiana’s Medicaid program. The contracts are for a total of six years, not including two one-year options, and total approximately $60M over the initial six-year term. Under terms of agreement, Catamaran will provide a flexible and customized suite of PBM services, including implementation, claims processing, clinical and technical call center services, electronic prescribing, federal and supplemental rebate administration, pharmacy audits, specialty medication management, and enhanced Coordination of Benefits, among others. Catamaran’s operational services will commence on April 1, 2013, supporting the State of Indiana’s one million Medicaid members with an annual drug spend of approximately $800M.”

    Do the math..

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