US accuses CVS of filling, billing government for illegal opioid prescriptions

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: msn/CNN/Reuters

11h


The US Department of Justice announced a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing pharmacy chain CVS of filling illegal opioid prescriptions and billing federal health insurance programs, contributing to a nationwide epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose.

The newly unsealed complaint in Providence, Rhode Island, federal court alleges that, from October 2013 to the present, CVS violated the federal Controlled Substances Act by filling prescriptions for dangerous quantities of opioids and dangerous combinations of drugs.

It said the company regularly filled prescriptions from doctors running so-called pill mills, dispensing large quantities of opioids without legitimate medical reason. The Justice Department said the violations were driven by company-mandated performance metrics that led to red flags being ignored, and that in some cases patients died of overdoses shortly after filling illegal prescriptions.

“We have cooperated with the DOJ’s investigation for more than four years, and we strongly disagree with the allegations and false narrative within this complaint,” CVS said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/us-accuses-cvs-of-filling-billing-government-for-illegal-opioid-prescriptions/ar-AA1w7G26

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Link to DOJ COMPLAINT (PDF) - https://www.justice.gov/usao-ri/media/1381051/dl?inline

[bucolic_frolic]

1. 11 years? Eleven?

[Dennis Donovan]

2. CVS made its pharmacies actual "pill mills"

According to the lawsuit, CVS maintained inadequate staffing and pushed its pharmacists to fill prescriptions as quickly as possible without investigating whether they were legitimate, and ignored warnings from its own employees.

“Safety issues arise when one is dealing with medication and also being rushed to fulfill an order like McDonald’s,” one employee allegedly wrote. “CVS has concocted an assembly-line style of medication preparation and only cares about profits.”

IMO, CVS is the UnitedHealthcare of pharmacies.

[mopinko]

3. i just found out that oak street health, a medicare focused chain, is owned by cvs.

i use cvs cuz i hate walgreens.
i looked into oak st, and will likely use them cuz the docs i have now seem to think i’m supposed to feel like shit at 70. but i tell ya, the place reeks of scams. the waiting room is like the office of a timeshare scam. super aggressive marketing, too. i get letters, texts. they have a- use every bennie there is- attitude.

all the chain pharmacies r stretched these days. my cvs has to close for an hour at lunch. they dont have enough ppl to stagger lunches. (they also take that lunch from noon-1. least they cd do is take at a different time than their customers.)
maybe this is part of the plan.

[LisaM]

4. I use Walgreens (or did) for my one prescription, which is for eye drops.

It was supposed to be perpetually refillable but somehow they messed that up and wouldn't refill it once, even after they called my eye doctor. So I switched to Safeway, no problem.

The trouble I had surprised me, because I know people who use painkillers and antidepressants and seem to have no problems getting them refilled. On top of that, when I go pick up my measly little prescription two or three times a year, I am absolutely shocked by the volume. The pharmacists are running around, there is always a line, half the customers seem incapacitated in some way, and there are thousands of prescriptions waiting to be picked up.

[FredGarvin]

5. In the old days obvious felonies were prosecuted

Not today.
And people wonder why the voting base wants change

[kacekwl]

6. It's not enough to rip consumers

they steal from the hand that feeds them. This is what your spent election money gets you, more money. This is our government.

[LudwigPastorius]

7. So, pharmacies are supposed to police doctors' prescriptions?

Can I sue a pharmacy if my physician got their degree from a diploma mill?