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posted by martyb on Monday September 25 2017, @12:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the addiction-sucks dept.

CVS is finally trying to do something about the opioid epidemic:

Drug-store chain CVS Health announced Thursday that it will limit opioid prescriptions in an effort to combat the epidemic that accounted for 64,000 overdose deaths last year alone.

Amid pressure on pharmacists, doctors, insurers and drug companies to take action, CVS also said it would boost funding for addiction programs, counseling and safe disposal of opioids.

[...] The company's prescription drug management division, CVS Caremark, which provides medications to nearly 90 million people, said it would use its sweeping influence to limit initial opioid prescriptions to seven-day supplies for new patients facing acute ailments.

It will instruct pharmacists to contact doctors when they encounter prescriptions that appear to offer more medication than would be deemed necessary for a patient's recovery. The doctor would be asked to revise it. Pharmacists already reach out to physicians for other reasons, such as when they prescribe medications that aren't covered by a patient's insurance plan.

The plan also involves capping daily dosages and initially requiring patients to get versions of the medications that dispense pain relief for a short period instead of a longer duration.

[...] "The whole effort here is to try to reduce the number of people who are going to end up with some sort of opioid addiction problem," CVS Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan said in an interview.

It appears this initiative is limited to initial filling of prescriptions — there is no mention of changes in the handling of refills.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Virindi on Monday September 25 2017, @01:34PM (1 child)

    by Virindi (3484) on Monday September 25 2017, @01:34PM (#572652)

    I believe what is really going on here is not that CVS has independently decided to address the problem. Instead, they are being pressured by politicians and law enforcement, who are trying to achieve what they could not otherwise do through coercion. Even if threats are not direct, the axe of the DEA is still there hanging over the heads of the pharmacists. They are trying to make themselves look like team players to try to avoid it.

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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @06:52PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 25 2017, @06:52PM (#572748)

    exactly, this is about local control of people by the feds, plain and simple. it's not enough that you paid for an expensive doctor's visit and wasted time going in to see the quack, now you have to go to a brick and mortar like it's 1965, get put on a fed "doper" list and see if some dipshit whore of the federal government decides you can have your fucking medicine.

    if people are dying all over the country, i'm sorry but that's not my fucking problem. all that being said, i don't use any of this shit nor do business with these flu vaccine pushing pieces of shit, but if i broke my leg and this was happening i might lose my shit on these stupid mother fuckers.