The definition of fraud is "wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain." I'll let you decide after reading this if this is fraud. Please post your thoughts in the comments. 

Many patients are forced to an insurance-owned mail order pharmacy as the only option of coverage such as Optum RX, CVS Caremark, and Express Scripts. 

We are currently being forced to mail order pharmacy for my son's life-saving transplant medications. It's the same mail order pharmacy that started my advocacy as they promised an icepack on a hot day, and the medicine arrived without one. Upon questioning why, I received many responses that didn't add up. 

Once again, I'm getting a lot of responses that are not adding up after the employer denied the request to get our medications safely at our local pharmacy, where we have been filling his prescriptions after getting an override to get his meds safely up until an employer and health insurance change. 

Let's start with the letter received by the employer. 

1. They told the employer that all specialty medications are overnighted. Per the pharmacists at CVS, this is only for exceptional cases, for example, when a medication is needed urgently. They do not overnight ALL specialty meds.
2.  Deception by deflection:  They tell the employer they ship all injectables with ice packs/cool. My son's medication is not an injectable. I confirmed that they will ship it WITHOUT ice packs in what was 100-degree heat when I called.
3. They should have told the employer the truth about the shipping. They should have admitted that my family was telling the truth about the risk to my son's life, and that they would not correctly store my son's medications in the manufacturer's specifications that the employer claims to care about in the letter. 
4. When asked how they will ensure safe temperature storage, nothing has changed since 2018.

This deception is the same that happened last time. Last time, once the media reached out, and I called out CVS for not telling the employer the truth about temperature storage, we were granted an override. 

This employer is not allowing for an override. 

This is how they deceive patients into not filing complaints and not knowing that their medications could be harmful or risk their lives: 

Me to CVS Specialty Mail Order: His medication is supposed to be at room temperature.
CVS Specialty Mail Order Pharamcists: It'll be kept in room air temperature.
(THIS IS WHERE MOST PATIENTS WOULD STOP. BECAUSE SHE JUST REASSURED ME THAT HIS MEDS WOULD BE STORED IN ROOM AIR TEMPERATURE)
CVS Pharmacist: But you said you will only ship it in a box without ice packs. 
CVS Pharmacist: Correct
Me: The trucks reach up to 120-170 degrees.
CVS Pharmacist: Acts like she didn't know.
Me: How will you keep it in the manufacturers' specs?
Pharmacist: I am not sure. 
Me: So you will ship overnight?
Pharmacist: We can in an emergent situation.
Me: Is that your policy and procedure
Pharmacist: NO

Parents of children with chronic conditions and patients deserve the right to protect meds from any chance of adulteration. We deserve the right to protect our child's medication from every minute of extreme heat. 

The more I speak to patients about what happens when they call and ask about their hot package of medications for their child or for themselves, this is their story, too.  Across the nation, the mail order pharmacists are deflecting and not telling patients the exact temperature that their medications will be exposed to. They are commonly just told, "It should be okay." I believe that should be fraud. What do you think? Where do we go from here? 

Room temperature medications shouldn't be exposed to temperatures two times room temperature. 

The mail order pharmacists lie to or deceive the patients by telling them the medication should be okay, not informing them that it's anyone's best guess as no one is tracking the exact temperatures. 

Shouldn't we, at a minimum, be warned of the risk? 

It's exhausting. I'm afraid for Wesley and other patients who are not warned. I'm angry that even the employers and legislators can be so gullible. I'm upset at the large pharmacy associations and regulatory agencies that have the power to save us and our children and demand this fundamental human right to access medication safely and that medications are handled safely throughout the supply chain. This request to protect my child's medications from extreme temperatures shouldn't be such an uphill fight. 

Knowing the temperatures that my son's medications will be exposed to and being unable to protect his medications that his life depends on makes me feel like a failure as his mother and as an advocate. It shouldn't be this way. 

Thank you, 

Loretta Boesing, Patient Advocate

loretta@uniteforsafemeds.com

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