Drugstore chain CVS has joined the fight against prescription drug abuse. As reported by NBC News, CVS has announced that it has and will revoke dispensing privileges for physicians and other healthcare providers who write too many prescriptions for painkillers (including, hydrocodone, oxycodone, alprazolam, methadone and carisoprodol). So far, they have revoked the privilege of 26 physicians and healthcare providers.
In an attempt to crack down on prescription drug abuse, and in lieu of the Drug Enforcement Administration revoking the license of two CVS pharmacies in Florida after they were accused of dispensing excessive amounts of oxycodone in 2012, CVS began monitoring who was prescribing how much of certain painkillers.
CVS, which has nearly one million providers in its prescriber database, analyzed prescribing rates between providers in the same specialty and region. They also took into account patients’ ages and the number who paid for the drugs with cash. Some disparities included one prescriber, who wrote more than 44,000 doses of high-risk prescription drugs, compared to similar providers who wrote only 662 prescriptions. In instances like this, the company would ask the provider for more information regarding the high number of painkiller prescriptions written. Many had legitimate reasons, such as one was the medical director of a hospice.
This action towards ending prescription drug abuse comes at a time when the FDA has issued stronger safety warnings for some painkillers. There will be label changes for extended-release and long-acting opioid painkillers. The new labels will caution dangers of abuse and possible death. The current labels state ‘for patients with moderate to severe pain’ on such drugs as OxyContin, but the new labels will say only for ‘severe pain.’ The FDA is also requiring additional studies to assess risks of prescription drug abuse, overdose, and death. (Reuters)
