Ketamine Linked to Reduced Suicidal Thoughts, Depression, Anxiety

While this study involved using Ketamine as a IV infusion with pts that state they are suicidial.  I know at least one pt that is using Ketamine that is being prescribed by a Psycharitist and a compounding pharmacy is making Ketamine Troche.  A Troche is like a cough drop and is designed to be put […]

Medical breaches accounted for 342 million leaked records from 2009 to 2022

Medical breaches accounted for 342 million leaked records from 2009 to 2022 Medical breaches accounted for 422.7 million leaked records from 5,478 data breaches Since 2009, medical organizations in the US have suffered nearly 5,000 data breaches, affecting over 342 million medical records. Our team of researchers analyzed data from 2009 to June 2022 to […]

Long-term Antidepressant Use Tied to an Increase in CVD, Mortality Risk

Long-term Antidepressant Use Tied to an Increase in CVD, Mortality Risk https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/981951 Long-term antidepressant use is tied to an increased risk of adverse outcomes, including cardiovascular disease (CVD), cerebrovascular disease (CV), coronary heart disease (CHD), and all-cause mortality, new research suggests. Investigators drew on 10-year data from the UK Biobank on over 220,000 adults and […]

DOJ sues Cigna for exaggerating patient illnesses

DOJ sues Cigna for exaggerating patient illnesses https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/doj-sues-cigna-healthcare-fraud-patient-diagnoses/634340/ The Department of Justice is suing Cigna over allegations it defrauded the Medicare program out of tens of millions of dollars by exaggerating patient illnesses to obtain increased monthly payments. The exaggerated diagnoses were based on in-home assessment forms — not the testing or imaging required to […]

CMS Puts the Kibosh on Misleading Medicare Advantage Sales Pitches

CMS Puts the Kibosh on Misleading Medicare Advantage Sales Pitches https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/101348 “Secret shoppers” found that 80% of agent calls with clients were inaccurate or insufficient After reviewing thousands of complaints about “confusing, misleading, and/or inaccurate” Medicare Advantage ads, and using “secret shoppers” to document deceptive telephone sales pitches, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services […]

5 myths about using Suboxone to treat opiate addiction

5 myths about using Suboxone to treat opiate addiction https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/5-myths-about-using-suboxone-to-treat-opiate-addiction-2018032014496 What is Suboxone and how does it work? Suboxone, a combination medication containing buprenorphine and naloxone, is one of the main medications used to treat opioid addiction. Using ‘medications for opioid use disorder’ is known as MOUD. Use of MOUD has been shown to lower […]

Protecting Pharmacy Access for TRICARE Beneficiaries

Tricare is health insurance for  active/retired members of our armed services and many US government employees.  Tricare changed their PBM’s to Express Scripts and they sent out contracts that provided reimbursements to – at least – independent pharmacies that was BELOW THE COST OF WHAT PHARMACIES HAD TO PAY TO PURCHASE THE MEDICATION FROM THEIR […]

pharmacies in driving opioid epidemic – same old song & dance

per the CDC:  Between 1999 and 2020, according to the CDC, more than 564,000 people in the U.S. fatally overdosed from prescription and illicit opioids… what we do know, that starting in abt 2012, opiate Rxs started to decline each year going forward.  Wouldn’t it be interesting if they put the PER-CENT of the OD’s […]

Court addressed how and why a pharmacist may legally decline to honor a prescription

what I find interesting in this court issue is…  what they are talking about is “off-label” prescribing… in which day in and day out… off label prescribing is a significant percent of all prescriptions filled. But “they” seemed to dance around and side-step around the very issue of off-label prescribing. Off labeling prescribing typically has […]

Pharmacist sued for confiscating patient’s prescription

Pharmacist sued for confiscating patient’s prescription https://www.pharmacytoday.org/article/S1042-0991(20)30963-4/fulltext#relatedArticles Judicial opinions can be frustrating when the judge authoring the opinion has not provided sufficient factual information. That is particularly true of this month’s case. The court’s description of the facts may lead one to believe, and actually hope, that an important fact has been left out of […]