A year later, fungal meningitis victims still suffering, but rebuilding
From the article:
They’re among some 750 people sickened in the outbreak that started in the late summer of 2012, peaked in the fall and eventually led to 64 deaths. Health officials traced the dangerous fungal infections to contaminated steroid back pain shots manufactured by the now-shuttered New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass. Like many patients, Snopkowski took the shots for several years in order to avoid using prescription painkillers.
Is this pt where she is at.. because of our society’s dislike of treating pain with opiates ?
and what about all those docs/pain clinics that chose to use compounded drugs.. because they can be purchased for 10%-25% of the commercially available product and most insurance companies will reimburse more closely to the price more appropriate for the commercially available product… because these meds are billed using HCPCS codes.. which are generic billing codes.. they do not bill via NDC numbers like pharmacies do… Maybe if docs had to bill with NDC numbers.. situation like this may not happen.. because there would be less of a financial incentive to use compounded drugs.
Filed under: General Problems
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