4 ms·
It's less about carrying out their own personal screening on products, as much as not following the rules of what types of prescriptions you can fill for contro
by mkmk 3y ago
It's less about carrying out their own personal screening on products, as much as not following the rules of what types of prescriptions you can fill for controlled substances.
"“We allege that Rite Aid filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions that did not meet legal requirements,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “According to our complaint, Rite Aid’s pharmacists repeatedly filled prescriptions for controlled substances with obvious red flags, and Rite Aid intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers. These practices opened the floodgates for millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Rite Aid’s stores.”
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The government’s complaint alleges that, from May 2014 through June 2019, Rite Aid knowingly filled at least hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were not for a medically accepted indication, or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice. These unlawful prescriptions included, for example, prescriptions for the dangerous and highly abused combination of drugs known as “the trinity,” prescriptions for excessive quantities of opioids, such as oxycodone and fentanyl, and prescriptions issued by prescribers whom Rite Aid
pharmacists had repeatedly identified internally as writing illegitimate prescriptions.
The government alleges that Rite Aid pharmacists filled these prescriptions despite clear “red flags” that were highly indicative that the prescriptions were unlawful. The government further alleges that Rite Aid not only ignored substantial evidence from multiple sources that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions, including from certain pharmacists, its distributor, and its own internal data, but compounded its failure to act by intentionally deleting internal notes about suspicious prescribers written by Rite Aid pharmacists and directing district managers to tell pharmacists “to be mindful of everything that is put in writing.” By knowingly filling unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances, the government alleges that Rite Aid violated the CSA and, where Rite Aid sought reimbursement from federal healthcare programs, also violated the FCA."
Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-complaint-alleging-rite-aid-dispensed-controlled-substances https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-com...
- 1-6 3y agoAre pharmacists also responsible?
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoIt seems so? See https://www.pharmacist.com/Publications/Pharmacy-Today/Article/recent-ruling-on-red-flags-creates-a-novel-situation-for-pharmacists https://www.pharmacist.com/Publications/Pharmacy-Today/Artic... > A federal judge in Ohio who oversees the National Prescription Opiate Litigation (NPOL) has recently issued a ruling with significant implications for pharmacists and pharmacies. The ruling requires pharmacists to document refusals of opioid prescriptions based on so-called “red flags.” Pharmacy companies are required to share these documented refusals with pharmacists at all of their practice sites. Pharmacists are required to consider their colleagues’ documented prior refusals during their screen of subsequent opioid prescriptions. I'm not sure if (or why) they aren't going after the doctors making the red flag prescriptions, however.
- cratermoon 3y agoBecause the doctors have the AMA. The similar sorts of group for pharmacists doesn't have nearly the political pull. The largest group, APhA, has about half the members as the AMA. AMA pulled in $493M to the APhA's $34.5M last year.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoAre they even going after pharmacists? Or are they just going after corporations to implement a corporate solution because going after doctors and pharmacists isn't scalable?
- eru 3y agoNot scalable and would be politically less popular?
- SoftTalker 3y agoWho says they aren't going after the doctors?
- Caligatio 3y ago
- FireBeyond 3y ago> highly abused combination of drugs known as “the trinity,” Was odd to me that they didn't explain what it is: opioids, benzodiazepines and carisoprodol (muscle relaxant).
- crazygringo 3y agoThat's wild to me that they would set corporate policy to ignore such red flags. It seems so obvious that this is the kind of thing the government is eventually going to go after. I can only wonder if this was a policy made my management (CEO/CFO) that was hidden from the board? To boost performance for bonuses/stock/etc. and then leave the owners to clean up the mess when it was finally discovered?
- IG_Semmelweiss 3y agoThank you for sharing. Is the situation similar with CVS or Walgreens ? If not, why not ? Did they have better controls, or they just got lucky from a number of factors (i.e. lower presence in states with serious opioid problems, etc)
- mkmk 3y agoI'm not as familiar with those cases, but yes, it seems to be similar for them. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/02/1133523740/cvs-health-agrees-to-a-5-billion-settlement-in-opioid-lawsuits https://www.npr.org/2022/11/02/1133523740/cvs-health-agrees-...