Attorney General’s Office presents argument defending rules requiring pharmacies to fill lawful prescriptions

http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?id=32414#.VGvisMmZhJR

From the article:

PORTLAND, Ore. — This week, the Attorney General’s Office will defend rules requiring pharmacies to fill lawful prescriptions for time-sensitive medications.

On Thursday, Nov. 20, at 2 p.m. in Portland, Ore., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear argument in the case of Stormans v. Wiesman, in which a pharmacy owner and two pharmacists challenge Washington rules requiring pharmacies to fill lawful prescriptions.

The plaintiffs object to filling certain prescriptions for emergency contraceptives based on their religious beliefs.  The state argues that the rules comply with the First Amendment and ensure that Washington residents have timely access to necessary medications.

While this case is all over birth control and Plan B… it does seem to apply to LAWFUL PRESCRIPTIONS FOR TIME-SENSITIVE MEDICATIONS..  Is keeping a pt from going into withdrawal.. time sensitive ?

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Why doesn’t CVS clearly define its ExtraCare rewards for customers?

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20141118-column.html

From the article

If companies want to reward customer loyalty, offer a real reward. Don’t make a nifty-sounding promise and then renege when the customer tries to cash in.

And now CVS Health is playing fast and loose with its ExtraCare rewards program. The company says discounts don’t apply to products that are on sale. But it sneakily excludes some full-priced items as well.

The company’s questionable rewards plan highlights the need for greater oversight of such programs, and for all exclusions and conditions to be spelled out clearly to consumers.

Tellem was pleased when CVS recently sent her a 30%-off coupon. She’d been wanting to buy some Crest Whitestrips to brighten her teeth, and they can be pricey — $55.99 for a box of 20 treatments. The coupon would save her almost $17.

But when Tellem tried to redeem her coupon at the CVS store in Malibu, she discovered that the Whitestrips didn’t qualify for the 30% discount. Neither did a $4.59 bath brush.

The only items she purchased that CVS would apply the discount to were three $1 picture frames and a $2.49 assortment of bandannas.

That gave Tellem a savings of $1.65 — closer to 2% of her total purchase rather than the 30% she had been expecting.

She complained to the manager, who pulled a fine-print rabbit out of her hat. The manager explained that the 30%-off coupon didn’t apply to sale items. Both the Whitestrips and bath brush were part of special deals — buy one and get a second one for half price.

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Pharmacies Limit Legitimate Paid Meds

http://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/pharmacies-limit-legitimate-paid-meds

From the article:

Now both Walgreens and CVS have developed checklists and internal policies which have resulted in severely limited access for legitimate pain patients. Many patients must negotiate of gauntlet of checklists and rules to obtain their pain medications.

Physicians have been contacted by pharmacists who request diagnoses, MRI’s, treatment history, and other patient protected information for (which they do not have the medical training to interpret) prior to filling their prescriptions.  This has resulted in frustration and complaints by and for patients who are now unable to obtain legitimate prescriptions for legitimate painful medical conditions.

The Florida Medical Association recently passed a resolution to address this problem. We recently created a task force which held a conference with representatives from the Pharmacy Retail Association, DEA, the Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, The Florida Academy of Pain Medicine and the Florida Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 

There is much to address and the problem is getting worse. Pharmacies blame the DEA; the DEA blames pharmacies. Doctors and their patients are trapped in the middle.

Pharmacies have taken the wrong approach. They have put their own interests (as corporations often do) ahead of the patients they claim to treat. Pharmacies now administer vaccinations, have walk-in- clinics and provide medical advice to patients. CVS finally removed all tobacco products from its stores. Now they seek to make decisions based on medical necessity, of which they are not qualified to do, which destroys the doctor-patient relationship.

Pharmacies are consumer oriented. Perhaps patients should reconsider where they fill their prescriptions and do their shopping.  They do have a choice. As a pain specialist, I can tell you that the current situation is not sustainable. Pain physicians cannot operate with such obstacles that are unnecessary and unwarranted. Patients will suffer and pharmacies may pay the price.

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Drugstore cowboy strikes again, hits Nob Hill CVS

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/drugstore-cowboy-strikes-again-hits-nob-hill-cvs/Content?oid=2912209

From the Article

The man wanted in a string of pharmacy robberies in San Francisco since late October might have struck again.

A suspect walked up to the pharmacy window of a business in the 1000 block of Hyde Street about 8:55 p.m. Friday and showed a handgun to an employee and demanded medication, police said. A CVS is located on that block.

The 27-year-old pharmacist behind the counter complied and gave the suspect several bottles of medication, police said. It is unknown how much or what type of medication the man took.

There have been six other robberies of pharmacies in San Francisco since Oct. 30, and in each of them the suspect description has been similar to this latest incident.

The suspect in all of the robberies was described by police as an Asian man in his 20s, ranging from 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9 with a medium build. In some of the earlier robberies in San Francisco, he was said to be wearing white face paint and an orange-reddish wig.

What I find fairly humorous is that our daughter lived in San Francisco for a few years and seeing someone in some parts of that town with a white face paint and orange-red wig… would not be considered unusual.

Why try and pass a forged Rx when you can just rob a pharmacy and get a few bottles of 100’s, 500’s or 1000’s ?

Why would someone rob a bank.. if they need money.. there is less security at the typical chain pharmacy and you can just sell the drugs on the street for money. If you don’t get the drugs you like… you can trade them with someone for the drugs that you do like … and you don’t have to deal with those bothersome “die packs” that the banks use.

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http://tbo.com/news/crime/dea-seizes-pharmacys-drugs-gets-sued-20141117/

DEA seizes Tampa pharmacy’s drugs, gets sued

From the article:

TAMPA — The owners of a pharmacy on Race Track Road say the Drug Enforcement Administration seized all its controlled substances and is illegally interfering with the drug store’s ability to do business.

RS Compounding, which does business as West Chase Compounding Pharmacy, filed a lawsuit against the DEA, the Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder and asked a judge to issue a restraining order to allow the business to continue operating.

A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday afternoon.

DEA spokeswoman Mia Ro declined comment on the lawsuit.

“The basis for DEA’s action was not that the pharmacy posed some imminent harm or threat to the public,” court filings state. “No, the DEA’s justification was that a membership interest in the pharmacy was transferred some 19 months before without its approval. The DEA acted unlawfully, outside its statutory and legal authority, and contrary to its prior interpretation of its own regulations. Further, the DEA violated the Pharmacy’s constitutional right to due process by circumventing its administrative process.”

There is no mention of the BOP of taking action against the Pharmacy’s permit.. was that just omitted or does state law require EVIDENCE in order for the BOP to act ?

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I started this blog and my Face Book page https://www.facebook.com/PharmacyRouletteYouBetYourLife

in mid-2012. Mostly out of wanting something to do, I was temping in LTC and was not happy with the direction that pharmacy… particularly community chain pharmacy  was taking.

I got blind-sided by Walgreen’s Good Faith Policy when it first started in early 2013.. when trying to get my first ever C-II filled at a Walgreen’s that we had patronized for 7-8 yrs and because of all of my wife’s Rxs.. they knew me on sight and all the Pharmacists at this store were also alumni of Butler University.

Luckily, the PIC at the Rite Aid across the street that I had known for 30 yrs.. had no problem with filling that C-II and has filled all of our prescriptions every since.  Needless to say, I was pissed and the path of my blog came upon a fork in the road. Having a wife that has been a chronic pain pts for several decades… I understood how Wag’s policy and other that evolved with others… was going to adversely affect those in the chronic pain community. Which did not give me the “warm fuzzies”.

Looking at the larger picture of healthcare.. it soon became apparent that what was going on was like a puzzle who pieces were scattered far and wide..  Many Pharmacists didn’t understand the business law side of everything and pain patients didn’t understand a lot of their rights.

The more readers on my blog… the more things that started showing up in my inbox.. virtually more pieces of the puzzle. As more and more readers realize that send me emails.. that their identity is never divulged… the more emails that I am getting… to the point that this blog is where it is at today because of all those emails.. I could not have dug up all that information on my own.. My blog has – to some extent – taken on a life of its own..

Not everyone is happy with what I post that comes from elsewhere or my opinions.. as one person quoted me today… If you are not pissing someone off.. you are not doing your job.

IMO, the status of our healthcare system is FRAGILE … This applies to Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technician and chronic pain patients.  YOU DO NOTHING… YOU GET NOTHING !

Thanks again for all your emails and comments

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This Federal Program Lets Cops Seize Cash, Evade State Laws And Keep Over A Billion Dollars

http://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2014/09/29/highway-cash-seizures-civil-forfeiture/

From the article:

John Yoder and Brad Cates, who headed the Asset Forfeiture Office at the U.S. Department of Justice from 1983 to 1989, slammed civil forfeiture as a “complete corruption” and “fundamentally at odds with our judicial system and notions of fairness,” in an op-ed for The Washington Post. Thanks to civil forfeiture laws, police and prosecutors don’t need to charge someone with a crime to seize and keep their property. Yoder and Cates “were heavily involved in the creation of the asset forfeiture initiative at the Justice Department,” they write, but after seeing civil forfeiture become a “gross perversion of the status of government amid a free citizenry,” the two now believe it should be “abolished.”

In order to seize cash, police typically pulled drivers over for minor traffic infractions. During the stop, police would look for “indicators” of suspicious, criminal activity. Tinted windows, air fresheners, trash in the car, “a profusion of energy drinks,” “a driver who is too talkative or too quiet” and signs of nervousness have all been considered indicators. For one Florida sheriff, “cars obeying the speed limit were suspect—their desire to avoid being stopped made them stand out.”

On the grounds that a driver is sufficiently suspicious, police then have the authority to search the car with a drug dog. If the dog alerts (and there are significant concerns about their accuracy), police then have probable cause to seize property owned by the driver. After police seized cash, the government usually wins: The Washington Post found that out of nearly 62,000 cash seizures since 9/11, in only 4,455 cases—seven percent—did the government agree to return at least a portion of the money taken.

Vincent Costello was one of them. Driving down to fix up a home in Florida with his girlfriend, the two were pulled over in May 2010 by Deputy Mason Ashby for a cracked windshield. During the stop, Ashby claimed he smelled marijuana and searched the van. No drugs were found. But the deputy did find over $30,000 in cash. Ashby contacted another deputy, a member of a regional DEA task force. Despite the pesky fact that they didn’t find any drugs, police seized all of Costello’s cash.

After he hired an attorney, the government offered to settle his case. But Costello would only get half of his money back. With his legal fees topping $9,000, Costello kept just $7,000—less than a quarter of what was originally seized. “Why would [they] give anything back if they thought you were guilty?” he told The Washington Post.

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/mich-medical-marijuana-card-holder-commits-suicide-after-police-witch-hunt-over-pot-butter/

Mich. medical marijuana card holder commits suicide after police ‘witch hunt’ over pot ‘butter’

From the article:

A former corrections officer took his own life over the weekend after being found guilty in a case involving marijuana-infused butter, his attorney said.

Bernhardt and three other Kent County Sheriff’s Department corrections officers were charged earlier this year with making marijuana butter. Although three of the men had medical marijuana cards, Michigan law does not protect patients who use edibles.
Bernhardt, who spent 22 years in law enforcement, had pleaded guilty to reduced charges of maintaining a drug house, which carried up to two years in prison.

Defense attorneys had argued that the men were doing the best they could to follow the state’s poorly-written medical marijuana law.

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Gruber: ‘Seniors do a terrible job choosing’ health care plans

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/17/gruber-seniors-do-terrible-job-choosing-health-care-plans/

ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber said “seniors do a terrible job choosing” their own public health care plans, according to presentation slides Gruber wrote that were obtained by The Daily Caller.

With ObamaCare limiting patients’ ability to choose their own insurance plans, doctors and medications, we might now know why: the law’s designers don’t think people know how to choose.

“We have experimented with choice in public insurance: Medicare Part D,” Gruber stated on a presentation slide dated Jan. 22, 2013. “Typical senior has 50 PDPs [Prescription Drug Plans] to choose from.”

But what’s wrong with seniors being able to choose their own plan?

“Seniors do a terrible job choosing,” Gruber said.

Gruber’s slide then claimed that 12 percent of seniors allegedly picked the lowest-cost Medicare Part D plan and could on average save up to 30 percent more, without noting that some seniors pick prescription drug plans that work for them that are not necessarily the cheapest possible plan.

Are do they just hire very bright consultants that are too stupid to keep their mouth shut.. in how the general public was hood winked to try to shift an election ?

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