Fine line between appropriate pt care and pt abuse/neglect

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

I pulled the bottom quote from a large law firm’s website in Louisville, KY.  The question has to be asked… isn’t some of the verbiage from this law firm’s website that describes pt abuse would also describe how many pts that have a medical necessity to be prescribed controlled substances are being treated by a variety of healthcare professionals. 

Also the question has to be asked if pts in nursing home have more rights than the rest of the population receiving appropriate care from healthcare professionals ?  Many pts especially those who are home bound are as sick or sicker than some of the pts residing in a nursing home. 

Why are personal injury attorneys failing to represent all pts that are being abused/neglected ?

Common Indicators of Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect

“Abuse of a nursing home resident is the intentional infliction of physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, or financial harm. Neglect, which is a form of abuse, involves withholding food, shelter, health care, or protection that a vulnerable person depends on the nursing home staff to provide.”

www.beckerlaw.com/legal-services/nursing-home-abuse-lawyer/

 

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The CDC blamed over 33,000 deaths on opioids in 2015, less than half of which were linked to pain medicatio

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

CDC: Painkillers No Longer Driving Opioid Epidemic

www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2017/3/26/cdc-painkillers-no-longer-driving-opioid-epidemic

By Pat Anson, Editor

A top official for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged that prescription painkillers are no longer the driving force behind the nation’s so-called opioid epidemic.

In testimony last week at a congressional hearing, Debra Houry, MD, Director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said that heroin and illicit fentanyl were primarily to blame for the soaring rate of drug overdoses.

“Although prescription opioids were driving the increase in overdose deaths for many years, more recently, the large increase in overdose deaths has been due mainly to increases in heroin and synthetic opioid overdose deaths, not prescription opioids. Importantly, the available data indicate these increases are largely due to illicitly manufactured fentanyl,” Houry said in her prepared testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

The CDC blamed over 33,000 deaths on opioids in 2015, less than half of which were linked to pain medication.  

While painkillers may be playing less of a role in the overdose epidemic, Houry believes pain medication is still a gateway drug for many abusers. She cited statistics from Ohio showing that nearly two-thirds of the people who overdosed on heroin or fentanyl received at least one opioid prescription in the seven years before their deaths.  

“The rise in fentanyl, heroin, and prescription drug involved overdoses are not unrelated,” Houry said. “While most people who misuse prescription opioids do not go on to use heroin, the small percentage (about four percent) who do account for a majority of people recently initiating heroin use.”

Houry also disputed reports that efforts to reduce opioid prescribing have led to increased use of illegal drugs. It was her office that oversaw the development of controversial CDC guidelines that discourage doctors from prescribing opioids for chronic pain. 

DEBRA HOURY, MD

DEBRA HOURY, MD

“Some have suggested that policies meant to limit inappropriate opioid prescribing have led to an increase in heroin use by driving people who misuse opioids to heroin,” Houry testified.  “Recent research, however, has indicated otherwise. One study found that the shift to heroin use began before the recent uptick in these policies, but that other factors (such as heroin market forces, increased accessibility, reduced price, and high purity of heroin) appear to be major drivers of the recent increases in rates of heroin use.”

The “recent research” Houry cited was a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine in January, 2016 – a full two months before the CDC opioid guidelines were even released. She offered no evidence to support her claim that the guidelines were having no impact on heroin use.

Some Patients Turning to Illegal Drugs

According to a recent survey of over 3,100 patients by Pain News Network and the International Pain Foundation, the CDC guidelines have reduced access to pain care, harmed many patients and caused some to turn to illegal drugs for pain relief.

Over 70 percent said their opioid doses have been reduced or cutoff by their doctors in the past year. And one out of ten patients (11%) said they had obtained opioids illegally for pain relief since the guidelines came out. 

“The one person I know who says the recent guidelines have helped (is) my neighbor who is a heroin dealer. He says business has quadrupled since doctors have started becoming too afraid to help people in pain,” one patient wrote.

“This has caused me far more pain and suffering in my life, and increased my stress and anxiety, and depression, because nobody seems to care that I suffer like this,” said another patient. “This has also caused me to turn to using heroin, because I have nothing left now at this point and cannot suffer like this.”

“Because people are unable to get adequate pain relief from prescribed medications due to the fear instilled to doctors by these ‘guidelines,’ most people, in my experience, are turning to heroin. This explains not only an increase in overdoses but also an increase in suicide from chronic pain patients,” wrote another.

“I found it easier to get medications through the black market than through my doctor. I spend about $1,000 per month in medications through the black market, but in the end that is less than the deductible on my insurance. And they deliver to my house!” a patient said.  

“My fear right now is that I’ve been using medications I buy from a dealer. They appear to be real and thus far I’ve been OK, but I’m afraid that I may eventually hit a bad batch laced with fentanyl,” said a patient. 

Houry’s testimony came on the same day the Drug Enforcement Administration warned that counterfeit painkillers made with fentanyl have killed dozens of people in the Phoenix area.

The DEA said at least 32 deaths in the last 18 months in Maricopa County, Arizona have been linked to fake pills laced with fentanyl that were disguised to look like oxycodone tablets. In nearly 75% of the overdoses, examiners also found dipyrone (Metamizole), a painkiller banned for use in the U.S. since 1977. 

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent that morphine. It is sold legally in sprays, patches and lozenges to treat severe chronic pain.

counterfeit oxycodone (dea photo)

counterfeit oxycodone (dea photo)

The DEA says illicit batches of fentanyl are being made in China and exported to Mexico, where drug dealers mix it with heroin or turn it into counterfeit medication before smuggling it into the U.S.

The DEA released detailed demographic information on the age, sex and ethnicity of the people who overdosed in Arizona. It did not say how many of the dead were patients looking for pain relief.    

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USA: we don’t worry about any HUMAN RIGHTS ?

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

In an Unprecedented No-Show, the U.S. Pulls Out of Planned Human Rights Hearing

https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/unprecedented-no-show-us-pulls-out-planned-human-rights-hearing

The United States has pulled its participation from hearings planned for today by a regional human rights body that has enjoyed the support of every U.S. administration since its founding.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is meeting in Washington, D.C., for a regular session covering human rights issues spanning North and South America. The hearings today are scheduled to cover the Trump administration’s attempt to ban immigration from six predominantly Muslim countries, its immigration enforcement and detention policies, and its approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The ACLU is testifying on Tuesday at hearings that can be livestreamed here.

In the past, when U.S. governments have sought to express displeasure at having their records scrutinized, they have occasionally protested by sending lower-level officials. But today’s refusal to engage the commission at all is a deeply troubling indication of its disrespect for human rights norms and the institutions that oversee their protection.

The IACHR is an independent body of the Organization of American States, which brings together all 35 independent countries in the Americas. The U.S. has long been a champion of the work of the commission. While it has no enforcement mechanisms, its mandate is to promote human rights and examine violations in all OAS member states. The IACHR is often the only venue where victims of egregious human rights violations can seek a measure of recourse in the absence of accountability in their own countries. Survivors of the U.S. post-9/11 torture program have appealed to it, and even the Bush administration defended its policies before the IACHR.

The United States’ record isn’t the only one under scrutiny during this session. In the last several days, the commission has heard extensive testimony on the human rights situation in Mexico, Honduras, Panama, Chile, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, with additional countries to face review today and tomorrow.

After word of the U.S. absence spread, the State Department responded by stating that “it is not appropriate for the United States to participate in these hearings while litigation on these matters is ongoing in U.S. courts,” in reference to lawsuits against the government’s Muslim ban. But that doesn’t explain why it wouldn’t attend another hearing regarding a Japanese-Peruvian man who was rounded up with thousands of other Latin Americans, deported to a World War II-era internment camp, and denied redress to this day. It also doesn’t explain why the Bush and Obama administrations appeared before the commission for hearings on CIA torture, Guantánamo, immigration detention, and prison issues, even though there was pending litigation at the time.

The Trump administration’s refusal to engage with an independent human rights body, which has played a historic role in fighting impunity and barbaric military dictatorships in the region, sets a dangerous precedent that mirrors the behavior of authoritarian regimes and will only serve to embolden them. It is a worrying sign that the administration, which has also said it would review future engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council, is not only launching an assault on human rights at home. Rather it’s upping the ante and weakening the institutions that hold abusive governments accountable.

Let’s hope the no-show is temporary, and not a sign of what’s to come

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Requested by a reader for me to post about MMJ Petition in NC

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

North Carolina: Medical Marijuana Legislation Filed

http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/51046/p/dia/action3/common/public/

Click on above link to go to petition

Update: HB 185 passed the first reading and has been referred to committee.

Rep. John Autry has filed comprehensive legislation to legalize patients use of and access to medical marijuana.

HB 185, the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act, permits qualified patients to possess up to 24 ounces of cannabis or grow their own personal supply. Separate provisions in the Act license and regulate the dispensing of cannabis from state-licensed facilities.

 
Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have enacted statewide provisions allowing patients access to cannabis therapy. North Carolina patients deserve these same protections.
 
Contact North Carolina NORML to get involved in your area.
 
 

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Opioids Kill Pain, Not People!

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Opioids Kill Pain, Not People!Opioids Kill Pain, Not People!

nationalpainreport.com/opioids-kill-pain-not-people-8833207.html

By Suzanne Stewart

I wanted to write something to enlighten the non-pain community as well as those who are in pain but are either new to the pain or have not had much of a relationship or experience with Opioids. Opioids can cause “dependence” just the same as many anti-depressants, blood pressure meds and Beta blockers.  Dependence is not the same as addiction and I will try to explain that in this writing. People who take opioids for chronic pain illnesses that carry a # of 43 on the McGill pain scale, for example:  CRPS or Complex Regional pain syndrome (and many others); do not get a “HIGH” from taking them.  When you have very extreme chronic daily pain, the Opioids just relieve the pain and do not give a Euphoric feeling whatsoever.  Of course, I am writing from my own experience and from the experience of being a patient health advocate since 2007 and a patient leader, as well as an administrator for several chronic pain illness groups.

Suzanne Stewart

Opioids do not kill people, but they do kill the pain for awhile. If you ask a person with chronic pain, if they enjoy taking these medications; they will all tell you “NO”! We do not like that we need or depend on these meds for relieving our daily high pain. We wish that we did not need the Opioids and we would prefer to just live pain free.  Many people that do not experience daily chronic pain, have the notion that Opioids are killing people.  This may be partially true, but not so, for the true chronic pain patients and the pain community. Those who die from taking Opioids are usually mixing it with other things from the “streets”.  They mix it with Heroin or crack cocaine or other “street” drugs; sometimes alcohol too.  Others, for example, celebrities who have passed away from taking Opioids, have mixed it with other substances. The news shows us that “another celebrity has died from an Opioid overdose”.  That’s not the whole truth, because that person had other substances in their bodies, we would later find out; after getting the coroner’s report.

 

In my research, I found an article on the website for RSDHOPE.org and it says this: In an article written by WebMD in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic states, “Some medications used to treat pain can be addictive. Addiction is different from physical dependence or tolerance, however. In cases of physical dependence, withdrawal symptoms occur when a substance suddenly is stopped. Tolerance occurs when the initial dose of a substance loses its effectiveness over time. Addiction and physical dependence often occur together.”  People who take a class of drugs called opioids for a long period of time may develop tolerance and even physical dependence. This does not mean, however, that a person is addicted.  In general, the chance of addiction is very small when narcotics are used under proper medical supervision.”  The article goes on to say, “Most people who take their pain medicine as directed by their doctor do not become addicted, even if they take the medicine for a long time.”  You can read the original article in its’ entirety. (this was found on the RSDHOPE.org website here: @http://www.rsdhope.org/addiction-dependence-or-tolerance-to-opiods.html).  In that same article at RSDHOPE.org, they go on to explain that: “Another article, written by Leanna Skarnulis, states, “Chronic pain patients often confuse tolerance with addiction.  They become fearful when the dosage of a narcotic has to be increased, but it’s normal for the body to build up tolerance over time, says Simmonds, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society.  “Patients don’t get a high, and they don’t get addicted.“

I was researching for this article and I read about Elvis Presley, Prince, Michael Jackson and others who died from what was called  or labeled “opioid overdose”.  But if you read more and dig deeper, you will find that the larger percentage of these people and others, die because they have mixed a prescription opioid with other medications, drugs, street drugs and/or alcohol. I’m not saying that nobody died from taking opioids in an overdose.  I will defend my cause by stating that the every single person that I’ve come across within my own pain community (*which is a large number of people because of my being a patient health advocate, Ambassador for US Pain Foundation, mentor for newly diagnosed CRPS patients and a patient leader for WEGO Health and founder/admin. for 4 different kinds of chronic pain support groups) has told me that they do not take more than what is prescribed, therefore they are not “addicted”.  I will also state from my own experience, that people living with daily high pain illnesses, do not “crave” their pain medication.  I have never craved my medicines, nor do I seek them out or think about them every day or continuously. 

The chronic pain community has been talking about the opioids more lately and we have been afraid and worried.  This is happening because there are “people” with power who are trying to take away our small semblance of a “normal” life with lowered amounts of pain.  I understand that there are parents who’ve lost children and Children who’ve lost parents due to drug overdoses.  I realize that people who are uninformed or misinformed regarding chronic pain; think they are taking on a cause or “helping”others because of their loss.  I feel deeply sad for anyone who’s lost someone that they love from a drug overdose or for any reason, for that matter.  It’s a bit similar to what used to happen when we were children in a classroom at school.  The teachers would punish the entire class for something that one child did and he would not confess to doing it.  The entire pain community should not be punished because of the actions of some.  

There are some other reasons for The Opioid Debacle that’s happening right now around us.  There are those “persons” who make money off of our chronic pain and suffering.  People who make a fortune doing invasive and dangerous surgeries on the pain community.  Also the many different therapies and treatment modalities that insurance doesn’t cover, for the most part.  There are PROP physicians and others who say that Opioids don’t help chronic pain!  The latter is an untrue statement because I’m here today as a chronic pain patient who does NOT and has not gone up in dosage in many years.  I have experience being with many persons in the chronic pain community who will testify that taking a routine and regular dosage of Opioids, does help relieve their chronic pain.  We are not addicted, we do not seek out or crave the Opioids and we deserve to be able to just “take a pill” that has little or no side effects, for many. 

Lastly, I would like to say that there are advocates in physicians and others who truly want to help those with chronic pain.  One of our biggest advocates, is a physician named, Dr. Lynn Webster (www.LynnWbsterMD.com). He is someone who has been trying to help our community.  Dr. L. Webster, M.D., has a book out called “The Painful Truth” (www.thepainfultruthbook.com) and now there is a movie  with the same name on PBS also.  For anyone who is interested in learning more about chronic pain and how medications like Opioids can help; here is the link to the PBS broadcasting :  The Painful Truth .

Suzanne has lived with a Systemic CRPS & several other chronic pain illnesses since a MVA in 2002. Prior to being disabled from chronic pain, she was an Interpreter for the Deaf at a hospital & worked with Deaf children. Since 2005, Suzanne’s been a patient Health advocate, support group leader & Mentor.  She continues doing these things today, but also does public speaking, awareness events and she’s a Writer/blogger & an Ambassador for the U.S.Pain Foundation. 

 

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Convenience Store Cigarette Sales Grew in 2015

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

Convenience Store Cigarette Sales Grew in 2015

https://www.medpagetoday.com/pulmonology/smoking/63753

Cigarette sales in the nation’s convenience stores rose slightly in 2015, marking the first sales increase in a decade, CDC researchers said.

An analysis of sales trends for conventional and electronic cigarettes from the fall of 2011 through 2015 showed a small, but statistically significant, overall decrease in traditional cigarette sales during the period — with the exception of 2015.

E-cigarette sales increased significantly during the period, but year-over-year growth slowed, CDC public health analyst Kristy L. Marynak, MPP, and colleagues also reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

In an interview with MedPage Today, Marynak said the increase in convenience store cigarette sales in 2015 does not necessarily mean that more people are smoking. Instead, it may indicate that people who already smoke are buying more cigarettes.

The sales figures for convenience stores — as well as supermarkets, pharmacies, mass merchandisers, “dollar stores,” club stores, and U.S. military commissaries — were derived from retail scanner data collected by the Nielsen Company from September 25, 2011 through January 9, 2016.

Marynak noted that declining gasoline prices in 2015 may have contributed to the slight increase in cigarette sales in 2015.

“We know that smoking rates are disproportionately higher among people with lower incomes,” she said. “It could be that these lower income smokers used some of this saved income to purchase cigarettes,” she said.

More conventional cigarettes and other tobacco products are sold in convenience stores than in any other type of retail outlet, which is why the other sellers were grouped together.

Marynak and colleagues wrote that a decrease in year-over-year cigarette sales occurring among non-convenience store sellers around September 2014 corresponded with the discontinuation of tobacco sales at the CVS drug store chain’s roughly 7,700 outlets. The pharmacy chain was the first in the nation to stop selling tobacco products.

Because e-cigarettes are often sold in vape- and tobacco-shops, which were not included in the Nielsen data, the sales figures probably don’t paint a true picture of overall e-cigarette use.

Based on tobacco industry analyst reports, the researchers estimated that the retail outlets included in the Nielsen report accounted for less than one third of the $2.5 billion e-cigarette market in 2014.

The data showed a steady and large growth in e-cigarette sales between September 2011 and the end of 2015, but sales growth began to slow over time.

 During the period, e-cigarette sales increased by an average of 2.6% in convenience stores and 4.5% in the other retail outlets included in the analysis.

Commenting on the sales data study, American Lung Association national president Harold P. Wimmer noted that while overall cigarette sales declined slightly during the survey period, 11.2 billion packs of cigarettes were sold in convenience stores and the other retail outlets in 2015 alone.

“This amounts to 34 packs of cigarettes for every adult and child in the United States, and is a good reminder of how far we still have to go to eliminate cigarette smoking in this country,” he noted in a press statement.

CVS Claims Halting Tobacco Sales Has Reduced Smoking Rate

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PAIN PATIENTS MEMORIAL SERVICE SCHEDULED FOR PAIN PATIENTS ADVOCACY WEEK, April 23-30, 2017!

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

PAIN PATIENTS MEMORIAL SERVICE SCHEDULED FOR PAIN PATIENTS ADVOCACY WEEK, April 23-30, 2017!

We need the names of any chronic pain patients and physicians that you know have committed suicide because of the War on Drugs, Chronic Pain Patients and the Comppassionate Physicians Who Treat Them.

Please contact chronic pain patient advocate and veteran Martin Polluck with the names:

Martin Pollack
518-589-4110
martindpollack@gmail.com

www.AmericanPainInstitute.org
www.PainPatientsCoalition.com

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A deceptive bureaucratic maze adds deep insult and possibly criminal intent to this obvious injury

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

The CDC Opioid Guidelines Violate Standards of Science Research

http://acsh.org/news/2017/03/25/cdc-opioid-guidelines-violate-standards-science-research-11050

If you follow healthcare news, you know that millions of US pain patients are experiencing a world of troubles.  If their pain itself wasn’t enough, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added to their agony in March 2016 by issuing a restrictive “Guideline” to primary care physicians on prescription of opioid medications to adults with long-lasting non-cancer pain. 

The Guideline was phrased as advisory rather than mandatory.  But that distinction quickly got lost as the US Drug Enforcement Administration ramped up disciplinary proceedings and prosecution of doctors for “over-prescribing” opioids like OxyContin and hydrocodone.  Even before final publication, Congress made the Guideline mandatory for the Department of Veterans Affairs.  More recently, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are seeking to turn the Guideline into a mandatory restrictive practice standard for insurance reimbursement. 

The new CMS standard will impose legal limits on the maximum amount of opioid pain relievers that a doctor may prescribe to a patient who isn’t actually dying of cancer.  A maximum of 90 Morphine Milligram Equivalents per Day (MMED) will be imposed retroactively on patients who have done well on much higher doses for years, with no evidence of addiction or overdose risk.  This despite the fact that the methodology of MMED is itself considered a meaningless medical mythology by many experts in the field.

Consequences of these changes are predictable.  Even more physicians will leave pain management practice, throwing thousands of patients into the street without medical referral or support when they go into opioid withdrawal.  Whole areas of US States are already no longer served by any pain management center.  Potentially millions more patients will be forcibly tapered down or cut off cold-turkey, plunging them into agony and disability when they can no longer work or maintain family relationships due to under-treatment of their pain.  More patients will be turned away by emergency rooms and family doctors.  Suicide rates — already on the increase — will soar. 

A deceptive bureaucratic maze adds deep insult and possibly criminal intent to this obvious injury. 

Many of the core assumptions of the CDC guidelines are supported by only the weakest medical evidence – and others are clearly contradicted by the evidence.  Medical professionals have published sharp criticisms of the CDC guideline and of the anti-opioid biases of consultants who wrote the document.  A recent paper in Pain Medicine [ref: Pain Med (2016) 17 (11): 2036-2046] offers analysis that shows the writers of the Guideline deliberately distorted the evidence they gathered.

CDC consultants performed a literature review on the effectiveness and risks of three classes of treatments for severe chronic pain:  opioids, non-opioid medicines like Tylenol, and behavioral therapies like rational cognitive therapy. Based on this review, they declared that there is very little evidence that opioids work for pain over long periods of time.  But they neglected to inform readers that they had rejected any study of opioid medications that hadn’t lasted at least a year, then declaring that there was no proof that opioids are effective over the long term.  But they did NOT reject studies of non-opioid medications or behavioral therapies that were similarly short. 

As the Pain Medicine paper states, “To dismiss trials as “inadequate” if their observation period is a year or less is inconsistent with current regulatory standards… Considering only duration of active treatment in efficacy or effectiveness trials, published evidence is no stronger for any major drug category or behavioral therapy than for opioids.”

This didn’t keep the writers of the CDC Guideline from recommending that non-opioid treatments be favored over opioids, despite lack of evidence that they work.  Nor did it keep the writers from exaggerating opioid risks – using the term “overdose” no less than 150 times in their biased and unscientific practice standard. 

It is time for the CDC to withdraw its misdirected “opioid guideline” for a major rewrite.  This time, the effort should be led by pain management specialists, not addiction psychiatrists.  Pain patients or their advocates should be voting members of the writers group.

Where are the personal injury attorneys, the class action attorneys and the ACLU on these issues… medical corporations dictating medication prescribing limits to their employed prescribers. Targeting mostly pts that are suffering from subjective diseases and have a legit medical necessity for being prescribed controlled substances.

Insurance companies indirectly denying opiates across the board by mandating PRIOR AUTHORIZATION and then denying the filed requests.

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patients in Florida are being forced to abandon the drug stores they’ve been using for years

Posted on March 25, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve
 

Lawmakers working on pharmacy bill after I-Team report

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/lawmakers-working-on-pharmacy-bill-after-i-team-report

TAMPA, Fla. – Medicaid patients and small pharmacy owners are fighting in Tallahassee to do away with restrictions on where prescriptions can be filled.

In January, the ABC Action News I-Team showed how patients in Florida are being forced to abandon the drug stores they’ve been using for years. As a result, some of those pharmacies are on the cusp of closing.

RELATED: Small pharmacies may be forced to close due to restrictive networks

Now state lawmakers are considering a bill to let people choose their own pharmacy, instead of being forced to go to the big chain drug stores. The Senate version has passed two committees, but supporters of the bill say they’re struggling to gain traction in the House.

Manjit Matharoo, who owns two pharmacies in the Tampa Bay area, says he is losing $25,000 a month at each of his stores because Medicaid contractors are pushing enrollees to the big chains.

“If this keeps happening,” Matharoo told the I-Team. “I’m sure we’ll have to close our doors.”

The situation is hitting patients, too.

“It’s been a nightmare,” said Jill Rand, who recently got a letter ordering her to switch from a pharmacy she has used for 11 years to a drug store chain. “My pharmacy was more than a pharmacy to me. And I miss it. I miss it bad.”

Bill Mincy, national chair of a group called Pharmacy Choice and Access, says more than 250 small pharmacies had to shut down last year.

“In certain situations, it may have been the sole factor,” Mincy said. “In other times, it was a contributing factor.”

Mincy recently met in Tampa with 50 pharmacy owners, who all say their business is in jeopardy if something doesn’t change.

“Many of them, very emotional, tears in their eyes about the investment they had made,” Mincy said.

Since the I-Team’s January report, according to Mincy, two companies that administer Medicaid plans in Florida have opened up coverage and given small pharmacies a chance to compete. But that’s not a permanent fix, since plan administrators could change their mind any time they want.

That’s why Senate Bill 670 and House Bill 625 are so important to small pharmacies and their loyal customers.

If the bills pass, Mincy says small pharmacies will meet the same terms, conditions and prices as their bigger competitors. Yet, he adds, big health care providers and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration are against the bills.

The I-Team reached out to AHCA for comment, they did not respond to several phone calls and emails.

Jarrod Holbrook is an Emmy and AP Award-winning Investigative Reporter for the ABC Action News I-Team. Do you have a story idea? Contact Jarrod on Facebook, Twitter, or via email at jarrod.holbrook@wfts.com.

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CDC study: using opioids for one day can get you hooked

Posted on March 25, 2017 by Pharmaciststeve

CDC study: using opioids for one day can get you hooked

Wanda Moore
http://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/west-palm-beach/cdc-study-using-opioids-for-one-day-can-get-you-hooked

The opioid epidemic has swept across the country and now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a new warning for those thinking it might not impact them directly. 

The study found that taking prescription painkillers like Oxycodone for just one day means you have a 6 percent chance of getting hooked on them.

If you’re taking pills for eight days or more that likelihood increases to almost 14 percent. If you’re taking them for a month or longer your chances of using them a year later jump to almost 30 percent. 

“It is something that everybody needs to be vigilant about because we’re dealing with an epidemic and it’s an epidemic that cuts across socio-economic groups,” said Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg. “Palm Beach County has been ground zero.”

The Palm Beach County’s Medical Examiner tweeted last week: “Thought there was a slowing down, but we have 10 drug overdose deaths today.” 

Aronberg said Monday his office has seen progress in the fight against unscrupulous sober homes. 

“Every day there are rouge players in the sober home and drug treatment industry that are deciding to leave Palm Beach County or not come here at all because we’re the toughest county in the state if not the country,” Aronberg said.

In 2016 there have been 669 overdose deaths in Palm Beach County and counting. The medical examiner’s office said they’re still looking into the numbers for December of last year. 

Now the judicial system is going after – in their opinion – “unscrupulous sober homes”… just like they have went after prescribers that are “over-prescribing” – in the opinion of the judicial system. 
Where is all these opiates coming from that the people in Palm Beach County ODing on ?  Sounds like the judicial system in that county likes the status quo… don’t provide recovery and don’t stop the flow of opiates… just keep on “counting the bodies”… more job security ?
I wonder how long it is before they go after LAYS POTATO CHIPS because they claim that “you can’t eat just one” and it could lead to obesity 🙁

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