AG Sessions Announces 45 Day 'Surge' Against (Opioid) Overprescribing Doctors, Pharmacies

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

CNSnews
Susan Jones | February 1, 2018 | 5:04 AM EST

[excerpt]

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/ag-sessions-announces-45-day-surge-against-over-prescribing-doctors

(CNSNews.com) - "We will not stand back and let crime and addiction rise," Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a gathering in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday, hours before President Trump's State of the Union Address.

Sessions announced an immediate crackdown on those who prescribe and dispense "unusual" amounts of opioid drugs:

    Now I am announcing today that, over the next 45 days, DEA will surge Special Agents, Diversion Investigators, and Intelligence Research Specialists to focus on pharmacies and prescribers who are dispensing unusual or disproportionate amounts of drugs.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Great but I do hope real people with real pain don't get hurt by this. Some people have no choice but to take these to manage pain.

[ABX]

Hmmm... Nope, don't see any in the Constitution making this a federal issue.

Maybe he should focus on FISA abused and leave this to the States to decide.

[aligncare]

Oh, goody. Now doctors will fear for their licenses and pull back from prescribing adequate counts or dosages to effectively manage their patients pain levels.

All that Sessions is doing with this action is insuring that more people will suffer needlessly, all because some people abuse medications.

The medical doctor I worked with used to complain that by denying her requests for patient  hospital admissions, insurance companies were undermining her medical judgment. Now she has to look over her shoulder, too?

[Frank Cannon]

Hey Sessions. How about looking into the criminality of your own dept before trekking out and trying to ruin Doctors lives. 

[Cyber Liberty]

Oh, goody. Now doctors will fear for their licenses and pull back from prescribing adequate counts or dosages to effectively manage their patients pain levels.

All that Sessions is doing with this action is insuring that more people will suffer needlessly, all because some people abuse medications.

The medical doctor I worked with used to complain that by denying her requests for patient  hospital admissions, insurance companies were undermining her medical judgment. Now she has to look over her shoulder, too?

That's exactly what's going on, and the most innocent will be doing the most suffering.  I've been chewed out by a few on these pages for pointing this out in the past couple of months.  "Nobody should be on Opioids" is what I've been told.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Oh, goody. Now doctors will fear for their licenses and pull back from prescribing adequate counts or dosages to effectively manage their patients pain levels.

All that Sessions is doing with this action is insuring that more people will suffer needlessly, all because some people abuse medications.

The medical doctor I worked with used to complain that by denying her requests for patient  hospital admissions, insurance companies were undermining her medical judgment. Now she has to look over her shoulder, too?

Yes this is my biggest fear. A lot of people live on pain medication with no other choice... and people have committed suicide because they were unable to deal with the chronic pain.

[driftdiver]

That's exactly what's going on, and the most innocent will be doing the most suffering.  I've been chewed out by a few on these pages for pointing this out in the past couple of months.  "Nobody should be on Opioids" is what I've been told.

@Cyber Liberty
Its happening for the non-opiod users as well.  For some reason they treat everyone the same.   My wife takes one drug that is a fairly weak painkiller.   The doctor upped the prescription but then the pharmacy wouldn't fill.  They said the insurance company wouldnt approve it.  I said I'd pay cash, they said it doesnt matter.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

This is not going to deprive anyone with real medical need of drugs to manage chronic pain.

It's going after Pill Mill Docs and Pharmacies.

Why is it whenever the word 'Doctor' gets used, everyone turns off their Crook Radar/Common Sense?

They go to school for years to BUY a State Approved Work License. That's all it is. It doesn't come with a Halo.

Drug Overdose Death Data
https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html

Opioids—prescription and illicit—are the main driver of drug overdose deaths. Opioids were involved in 42,249 deaths in 2016, and opioid overdose deaths were five times higher in 2016 than 1999.

In 2016, the five states with the highest rates of death due to drug overdose were West Virginia (52.0 per 100,000), Ohio (39.1 per 100,000), New Hampshire (39.0 per 100,000), Pennsylvania (37.9 per 100,000) and (Kentucky (33.5 per 100,000).

Significant increases in drug overdose death rates from 2015 to 2016 were seen in the Northeast, Midwest and South Census Regions. States with statistically significant increases in drug overdose death rates included Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.1

Read the entire study, Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths – United States, 2000 to 2014

Read the entire study, Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths – United States, 2010 to 2015

    2015-2016 Death Increases
    2014-2015 Death Increases
    2016 Deaths
    2015 Deaths
    2014 Deaths
    Data Sources

Statistically significant drug overdose death rate increase from 2015 to 2016, US states
WAMTIDNDMNMEMIWIORSDNYWYIANEMAILPACAUTNVOHINCOWVMOKSVAKYAZOKNMTNNCTXARSCALGAMSLAFLHIAKCTDCDEMDNHNJRIVT
Statistically significant increase

Statistically significant increase from 2015 to 2016

No
Yes

*Deaths are classified using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD–10). Drug-poisoning deaths are identified using underlying cause-of-death codes X40–X44, X60–X64, X85, and Y10–Y14. Age-adjusted death rates were calculated as deaths per 100,000 population using the direct method and the 2000 standard population.
SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality.

References

    Hedegaard H, Warner M, Miniño AM. Drug overdose deaths in the United States, 1999–2016. NCHS Data Brief, no 294. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017/ CDC. Wide-ranging online data for epidemiologic research (WONDER). Atlanta, GA: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics; 2016. Available at http://wonder.cdc.gov

Empowering Providers. Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. www.cdc.gov

[aligncare]

@Cyber Liberty
Its happening for the non-opiod users as well.  For some reason they treat everyone the same.   My wife takes one drug that is a fairly weak painkiller.   The doctor upped the prescription but then the pharmacy wouldn't fill.  They said the insurance company wouldnt approve it.  I said I'd pay cash, they said it doesnt matter.

One has to wonder why we bother training doctors for years to make proper medical decisions when all we need are insurance adjusters with red pencils?

[Cyber Liberty]

This is not going to deprive anyone with real medical need of drugs to manage chronic pain.

I wish I could agree with that.  I wish I didn't know somebody who was just thrown off the drug she'd been using to successfully treat her chronic pain for years, and is praying the new drug 1) works long term and 2) doesn't go on the next crusaders' list.

[Cyber Liberty]

One has to wonder why we bother training doctors for years to make proper medical decisions when all we need are insurance adjusters with red pencils?

True dat.  The Insurance companies have been set up to be the gatekeepers in this system.  Mrs. Liberty and I are about ready to eschew all Insurance payments for all medication, even if it jacks our expenses by hundreds a month.

[anubias]

Hmmm... Nope, don't see any in the Constitution making this a federal issue.

Maybe he should focus on FISA abused and leave this to the States to decide.

 

[240B]

This is just Sessions trying to raise his profile. Sessions knows that there is a purge coming. He knows that he is best known for hiding in his locked office under his desk. Sessions knows that most people think of him as a do-nothing, invisible man, AG.


So, he picks something safe and cliche' that he believes he can sell to Trump in order to keep his job. This is just a stunt. However, stunt or not, depending on what he does some people could get hurt by this. I'm not sure I trust Sessions to be the judge as to how much prescription medicine is enough, and how much is too much.


I think he is too backward, draconian, and opinionated to be able to do this right. IMO

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

I wish I could agree with that.  I wish I didn't know somebody who was just thrown off the drug she'd been using to successfully treat her chronic pain for years, and is praying the new drug 1) works long term and 2) doesn't go on the next crusaders' list.

I'm truly sorry to hear that. And yes, no system or solution to problems is perfect.

The abuses however go deeper than Govt oversight.

Doctors amass crushing educational debt buying their work license. Then they get hit with 16 a day internships.

The Incentive to cheat is there.

It kills me whenever there's write up of a crooked, or grossly negligent Doc and the journo cries and hair tears:

"But what about the Hippocratic Oath? First do no harm?"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html

Last entry: Hippocratic Oath, Modern Version

Not just the Words 'First Do No Harm', but the sentiment itself of 'Primum non nocere' are wholly Absent.

It's an Urban Myth.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

Hmmm... Nope, don't see any in the Constitution making this a federal issue.

Maybe he should focus on FISA abused and leave this to the States to decide.

The States knew about the problem before the Feds did.

The Feds got the numbers From the States, so the idea of leaving this to the States isn't going to work any better than it already hasn't.

[Cyber Liberty]

The States knew about the problem before the Feds did.

The Feds got the numbers From the States, so the idea of leaving this to the States isn't going to work any better than it already hasn't.

I see this as more a States problem.  It's the State that's cracking down on my friend's Doc, not the Feds.  At least, not directly.

[Victoria33]

True dat.  The Insurance companies have been set up to be the gatekeepers in this system.  Mrs. Liberty and I are about ready to eschew all Insurance payments for all medication, even if it jacks our expenses by hundreds a month.

@Cyber Liberty

To get hydrocodone for fibromyalgia, diagnosed by a neurologist years ago, have to physically see the doc, and per federal "rules", he can only prescribe for one month at a time, so he gives me three prescriptions, one dated for that day, the other two dated for those two months, each of which have to be written on federal prescription forms (not allowed use their own forms), then I have to sign a form saying I got the scrips.  I take one of the scripts to Walgreens and it's like I am getting a poison - I have to answer questions about how I am going to take it, then finally get the pills.

Several months ago, the muscles on the entire left side of my back went into spasm, and the pain was so bad I couldn't stand it.  I took one of the pain pills and drank a half bottle of wine (Bob took it away after I drank half of it) and still wanted to be hit in the head to knock me out so I would get rid of that pain - the pill and the wine did nothing.  Couldn't move any part of my body as that made it worse, except it couldn't get any worse.  My body shut down - didn't feel the need to urinate the whole day. I could not move and didn't.

Explained this to doc the next time I went there and he gave me pills to stop muscle spasms and said to also take two of the pain pills when this happened again, along with the spasm pills.   He said Bob did the right thing to take away the wine bottle.

There is a time when you will take anything to stop massive pain that has your brain screaming it can't bear the pain.

[Cyber Liberty]

@Cyber Liberty

To get hydrocodone for fibromyalgia, diagnosed by a neurologist years ago, have to physically see the doc, and per federal "rules", he can only prescribe for one month at a time, so he gives me three prescriptions, one dated for that day, the other two dated for those two months, each of which have to be written on federal prescription forms (not allowed use their own forms), then I have to sign a form saying I got the scrips.  I take one of the scripts to Walgreens and it's like I am getting a poison - I have to answer questions about how I am going to take it, then finally get the pills.

Several months ago, the muscles on the entire left side of my back went into spasm, and the pain was so bad I couldn't stand it.  I took one of the pain pills and drank a half bottle of wine (Bob took it away after I drank half of it) and still wanted to be hit in the head to knock me out so I would get rid of that pain - the pill and the wine did nothing.  Couldn't move any part of my body as that made it worse, except it couldn't get any worse.  My body shut down - didn't feel the need to urinate the whole day. I could not move and didn't.

Explained this to doc the next time I went there and he gave me pills to stop muscle spasms and said to also take two of the pain pills when this happened again, along with the spasm pills.   He said Bob did the right thing to take away the wine bottle.

There is a time when you will take anything to stop massive pain that has your brain screaming it can't bear the pain.

What you described about the one-month, no refill scrips is perfectly accurate, and that's what my friend has been doing for years.  Last time she saw the Doc, he said the government (State board) told him he can't let her have any more, and cut her off cold-turkey.  He switched to Tramadol, she's hoping it works long term, so far it's working. hoping.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

@Cyber Liberty
@Victoria33

I'm not arguing with either of your POVs. The situation is a mess on all fronts.

Doctors are regulated and disciplined at the State level by State Medical Boards, who do, essentially less and worse than nothing.

Because they're comprised of other Doctors and the Good Old Boys Club ignores incompetence and criminal conduct left and right.

To truly get a handle on the epidemic of user abuse and death the people the Feds need to go after are the Drug Makers themselves.

GSK has been caught paying the Top Prescribers in their Sales Districts pheasant hunting jaunts in Spain and Madonna concert tickets along with Speakers Fees of 5 figures to give talks to other Docs about how wonderful their latest chemicals are.

That's not the exception. It's the rule.

[Cyber Liberty]

@Cyber Liberty
@Victoria33

I'm not arguing with either of your POVs. The situation is a mess on all fronts.

Doctors are regulated and disciplined at the State level by State Medical Boards, who do, essentially less and worse than nothing.

Because they're comprised of other Doctors and the Good Old Boys Club ignores incompetence and criminal conduct left and right.

To truly get a handle on the epidemic of user abuse and death the people the Feds need to go after are the Drug Makers themselves.

GSK has been caught paying the Top Prescribers in their Sales Districts pheasant hunting jaunts in Spain and Madonna concert tickets along with Speakers Fees of 5 figures to give talks to other Docs about how wonderful their latest chemicals are.

That's not the exception. It's the rule.

I don't doubt that, but this is being fueled by media reports and public hysteria, and bureaucrats from Insurance companies more than happy to step into the role of gatekeepers, usurping the Docs that aren't on the take.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

@Cyber Liberty
@Victoria33

I'm not arguing with either of your POVs. The situation is a mess on all fronts.

Doctors are regulated and disciplined at the State level by State Medical Boards, who do, essentially less and worse than nothing.

Because they're comprised of other Doctors and the Good Old Boys Club ignores incompetence and criminal conduct left and right.

To truly get a handle on the epidemic of user abuse and death the people the Feds need to go after are the Drug Makers themselves.

GSK has been caught paying the Top Prescribers in their Sales Districts pheasant hunting jaunts in Spain and Madonna concert tickets along with Speakers Fees of 5 figures to give talks to other Docs about how wonderful their latest chemicals are.

That's not the exception. It's the rule.

It's a fair point. There are several people in my wife's family who have died from ODing on pills, almost all opioids. But I also know people who simply cannot live day to day without taking them, and basically nothing but nothing else works. Seems we need some sort of happy medium.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

I don't doubt that, but this is being fueled by media reports and public hysteria, and bureaucrats from Insurance companies more than happy to step into the role of gatekeepers, usurping the Docs that aren't on the take.

@Cyber Liberty

Do Insurance Companies have a Motive?

Is the Pope a Catholic?

http://psychroaches.blogspot.com/search/label/Euthanasia

Dead People don't cost Insurance Companies Millions of Dollars to keep them alive any longer.