Dear Supporters,
Don't miss this NBC News Report that shows that the insurance-owned mail-order pharmacies and their lobbyists are trying to prevent America's Pharmacy Boards from protecting patients from harm.
My takeaways from the article:
- Momentum is gaining, but corporations are flexing their muscles. “In the four and a half, five years I’ve been with the board, we’ve never encountered this much in public comment,” the executive director of the state pharmacy board, Marty Hendrick, told NBC News after the meetings.
- “If everyone is doing it correctly, then there really won’t be anything to change anybody’s shipping patterns,” said Hendricks. “These rules will be in place just as a safety and guidance.” Exactly. If mail order pharmacies were already shipping safely, the regulation wouldn't be a problem. Many are not shipping safely.
- A lobbyist from PCMA, the lobby association for Optum Rx, CVS Caremark, and Express Scripts, stated that the rule is “not grounded in science and evidence." Although, The regulation was only proposed after a committee of prominent scientists, pharmacists, and professionals from medication testing facilities held several meetings about how to regulate the issue best. Dr. Desmond Hunt from United States Pharmacopeia (USP) who helps write regulations that the FDA and State Boards often use in their guidelines, was also part of the committee. PCMA's allegations are false.
- Express Scripts "asked the board to be mindful that standards it sets may be subject to legal challenges..."
- CVS admitted to pharmacists receiving hot medications and almost used it as an excuse to ship meds the same way. After being questioned by a Board member, she said, “If you’re requiring the pharmacy to ship in this way, and you [the pharmacy] receive those medications, and they feel warm, the pharmacist can refuse them,” she said. “But at what point does that hinder patient access by not having medications in the pharmacy?”
Hendricks, the board director, pushed back. “So we would hinder access to a medication that could possibly be not good with that [requirement] — wouldn’t that be a good thing?”
Of course, yes, that would be good. As parents, caregivers, or patients, we should have the right to keep our medications or our loved ones' medications out of temperature extremes as much as possible. This also exposes CVS for possibly receiving medications that could be adulterated, failing to report it, and further shipping the medication that they know could already be adulterated.
The threatening of lawsuits, the finger-pointing, and the blanket statements are used frequently with these companies and their lobbyists. Their tactics have effectively worked for over 20-30 years. Lawsuits are often the next to last resort for them before or upon losing.
This is proof that the tides are beginning to turn.
The fear of lawsuits didn't stop the Oklahoma Board of Pharmacy from moving forward, and don't let it stop you.
What's further amazing is brave and heroic reporter Adiel Kaplan from NBC has committed to keeping the public up-to-date on Boards' actions related to temperature regulation, so please get involved with your State Board of Pharmacy as temperature regulation becomes a hot topic. If you need help, let me know, and I'll help you navigate the process. If I can, I will meet you there.
Reach out and demand that Boards take action to protect patients from unsafe temperatures, life-threatening delays, and other pharmacy issues.
Weekly, I come across patients with aggressive cancers that are going weeks without their chemotherapy medications as currently delays and improper temperature control may be unethical but not illegal as many are forced to these mail order pharmacies. These risks would almost be eliminated if patients could return to get their medications at the pharmacy of their choice.
These are billion-dollar companies that we are fighting against. Shipping medications in bags and leaving them in hot 120-170 degree trucks and mailboxes without warning us that our child's life and patients' lives would be at risk and claiming that temperature regulations of medications isn't backed by science is fraud at most and a scam at least. It's time that they are held accountable for forcing patients to mail order and not delivering medications safely.
We appreciate your support.
Loretta Boesing, Patient Advocate
Email: Loretta@uniteforsafemedications