Email steve@steveariens.com 502-938-2414
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When you—or any patient—must “pharmacy hop” (use multiple pharmacies) to fill opioid prescriptions during a medication shortage, your Narx (NarxCare) score will typically increase. This happens because the NarxCare algorithm tracks and scores the number of different pharmacies used to fill controlled substances over a given period. Using more pharmacies is interpreted as a risk […]
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Where the insurance/pbm industry uses PAs to pad their bottom line – CLICK HERE I didn’t have the time to convert each page to a *.jpg so that I could display them directly in a blog post, so they are all available in *,pdf format on the hyperlink above
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We are quickly approaching a precipice like many other chronic pain pts. A few months ago, our PCP of almost 30 yrs told us that he is retiring the end of 2026. We have already interviewed a couple of practices only to get “I’m not comfortable prescribing that much opioids – and that was on […]
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Rite Aid is closing its last bankruptcy with selling off their last 1,000 stores. A few years back they had abt 5,000 stores. Walgreens it is reported that they are selling the entire chain off to some investment firm. 10-15 yrs ago Walgreens was worth 100 billion, but this deal is reported to be for […]
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“The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick and the needy, and the handicapped.” – Hubert Humphrey,VP, Pharmacist My son Andrew will […]
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My Personal COVID-19 Vaccination Decision When COVID-19 vaccines first became available, I made a deliberate choice for my family: we would not take the mRNA vaccines. In my opinion, these newer vaccines had insufficient research and clinical trial data behind them at the time. However, there was a third option—the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine, which […]
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I have said for years that we are on the cusp of a “civil war”, but this civil war will not be a simple “us vs them” as our Civil War of the mid 1800’s. This one is going to be between “tribes”, “affinity groups”, and illegal immigrants from an untold number of countries on […]
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https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/courts/2025/06/10/former-mount-carmel-doctor-william-husel-testifies-in-defamation-trial/84119853007/ Former doctor William Husel broke down on the witness stand during testimony in his defamation trial against his former employer as he told a jury about the day he learned he was charged with prescribing fatal doses of medicine to patients. The former Mount Carmel doctor began his testimony on June 9 and continued […]
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https://who13.com/news/iowa-gov-reynolds-signs-bill-to-reform-pharmacy-benefit-managers/ DES MOINES, Iowa (KCAU) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill Wednesday aimed at bringing changes to pharmacy benefit managers, also known as PBMs. The legislation, Senate File 383, aims to help prevent more independent and rural pharmacies from closing their doors in the Hawkeye State. PBMs are the middlemen between […]
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