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Print This PageTALLAHASSEE
CVS has told some doctors in Florida — the nation’s pill mill capital — that its retail pharmacies will no longer fill prescriptions they write for some potent and addictive drugs.
Some pain management advocates say that will hurt people who need medication, but advocates of a crackdown on the state’s pill mills said it is a natural response to Florida’s new prescription drug database, which allows pharmacies and law enforcement to track prescriptions.
They say as pill mills are shut down or curtailed, drug users are turning up at mainstream pharmacies, which are wary of this new clientele.
CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis said the pharmacy chain has “informed a small number” of Florida doctors that CVS will no longer fill prescriptions they write for certain narcotics, such as oxycodone.
DeAngelis said CVS told the federal Drug Enforcement Administration about its decision.
“While we regret any inconvenience this may cause for our customers, we treat the dispensing of controlled substances with the utmost care and seriousness,” DeAngelis said in a statement. “CVS/pharmacy is unwavering in its compliance and measures to prevent drug abuse and keep controlled substances out of the wrong hands. We support federal and state law enforcement in their efforts to combat issues of abuse and diversion associated with prescription drugs.”
The Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS, which operates more than 700 pharmacies in Florida, appears to be the only pharmacy group to take this stand. The company made its decision after Florida enacted a new law to crack down on pill mills, including monitoring prescriptions for narcotics through a new database, which went into operation earlier this year.
The monitoring program collects narcotics prescriptions in a searchable database that any doctor or pharmacist can access. The goal is to prevent doctor shopping. Physicians and law enforcement officials can tell if patients already have prescriptions from other doctors and are trying to stockpile narcotics.
On average, seven Floridians die each day from overdosing on prescription narcotics like Oxycontin. The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program was strongly supported by a variety of anti-drug groups and many health care providers, who spent seven years working to finally pass the database legislation in 2009.
In a letter to an unnamed Central Florida doctor, CVS said it had “become increasingly concerned with escalating reports of prescription drug abuse in Florida, especially oxycodone.”
State officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was a strong advocate for the pill mill database legislation, declined to comment on CVS’s move, with one of her aides saying it was “purely” the pharmacy company’s decision.
But some pain management doctors said the move is going too far and that it will hurt patients who need medication.
“This is just another hysteria driven response to a problem that is based on false data provided by Florida medical examiners and law enforcement,” said Paul Sloan, president of the Florida Academy of Pain Medicine.
Tomas R. Rodriguez, business manager for the Comprehensive Pain Center of Sarasota, said the decision is the likely result from the pill mill crackdown.
“I know that different pharmacies have started to see a much higher influx of patients that are typically drug seekers,” Rodriguez said. “This is because of the crackdown on pill mills that typically had in-house pharmacies. Now that those have been closed down, drug seekers have been going more to the mainstream pharmacies, and I think a lot of them are getting worried about how to protect themselves.”
Rodriguez said the prescription ban could impact “legitimate patients,” including some who used pill mills to get their medication.
Because of the drug database, many primary care doctors are refusing to write prescriptions for the restricted drugs, and are referring their patients to pain management centers, Rodriguez said. That may be beneficial because pain specialists are more qualified to treat them, he said.
Staff Writer Barbara Peters Smith contributed to this report, which includes material from Reuters.
I can’t believe they would deny people who are in real pain. I found a pill mill and reported it and hope it will be closed soon. There are ligit Drs who know their patients need such medications. Yes there are people who scam to get pills but I feel denying those in need is a bad practice. I will never shop in CVS again.