Medicare Enabling Prescription Drug Abuse

The New York Times recently reported that Medicare is subsidizing drug abuse through allowing benefit receivers to search out doctors who will fill their prescriptions for large amounts of painkillers and narcotics. Congress says that this practice far exceeds what any patient could safely use. The General Accounting Office reported that 170,000 Medicare beneficiaries received prescriptions from 5 or more doctors for 14 types of drugs that are frequently abused.

The report states that the most commonly abused drugs by medicare recipients include the painkillers Oxcycodone and Hydrocodone (OxyContin and Percoset)

Case Study:

Georgia - a beneficiary received a 150 day supply of oxycodone in just 27 days by obtaining 7 different prescriptions from 4 different doctors.

California - a California man received over 1,300 fentaynyl patches and pills from 21 different prescribers in one year.

Texas - a beneficiary received prescriptions for over 4,500 hydrocodone pills from 25 different doctors.

New Oxycodone Formula Gets Backing of FDA

The FDA recently voted in favor of pushing a new formulation of oxycodone hydrochloride for approval. The new OxyContin formula is more difficult to crush or dissolve which will hopefully make it harder to be used as a drug of abuse . The FDA recommended that Purdue Pharma's application for a new, resin-coated formulation should replace the original version, which has been on the market since 1996. Randall Flick, MD, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic who voted to recommend approval of the drug said, "Clearly the old formulation is worse than the new, although I think the difference is relatively small," Flick concluded, "Hardcore abusers are likely to devise new ways to break down the harder tablet or figure out which solvents will dissolve it fastest, within 'day or weeks' of the product's release on the market."

Utah Debates Drug Testing for Public Assistance

Utah has begun to follow the path that so many other states have traveled earlier this year. The path leads to drug testing for public assistance. Utah Senator Dennis Stowell had asked that the issue be studied carefully and Rep. Christopher Herrod said "If someone's on drugs, we shouldn't be giving them money," he said. "There's nowhere in the Constitution that says, 'You have a right to get welfare." At the center of the debate is cost and legality. An analyst for Community Action Partnership of Utah stated that "The cost to test all Utah’s families that receive 'Temporary Assistance for Needy Families' would be high." The analyst added, "That testing all welfare recipients just once would cost about $255,000 and a lawsuit against the state would likely cost more than $1 million." Further discussion and analysis is planned in the upcoming months to decide whether to study the issue further, table the issue or wait un

PHOTOS: MMC Through the Years

Mobile Medical Corporation (MMC) is excited to be celebrating our 30th Anniversary in 2020! MMC was founded on June 21, 1990. Check out some photos as we have grown over the years!

Nationwide Drug Testing and On-Site Medical Services By Mobile Medical Corporation

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