The Food and Drug Administration rejected their own expert panel’s recommendation that medical doctors be required to have special training before they could prescribe long-acting narcotic painkillers that can lead to addiction. The AMA has fought this measure, saying it would be too burdensome for their members to be required to be trained before prescribing these drugs.
I have often written about the issues caused by our medical industry with opioids. We are creating addicts that in turn create unsatiable and recurring demand. As society sees the issues and takes action, some people will clean up and some will search for a way to satiate the addiction.One well-known and affordable source of
Many of you have heard the tragic news of Marina Keegan, the 22 year old who died in a car accident, shortly after her graduation from Yale University. If you haven’t already read her final column for the Yale Daily News, I suggest you do. She writes about life, and what Yale meant to her.
North Carolina has long been a hot bed of expensive hospital bills. They regulate the billing through an agency for workers’ compensation and allow a percentage off charges. Those of you that know me, know I find percentage off charges meaningless. Recently, they adjusted the allowable percentage of charges from 95 percent down to 78
Implants are another hot topic for medical cost containment. They’re one of the biggest cost drivers in medical costs for workers’ compensation and auto. A group in California was just indicted for fraud with medical billing.The law in California allows for a $250 mark-up over the manufacturer’s invoice. This group was buying the implants, marking
The latest in medical billing fraud headlines reads: 107 people charged in healthcare fraud bust. It’s a bust that’s costing the government an estimated $450 million in false billings. In Miami, FL 59 people were charged; seven defendants were charged in Baton Rouge, LA; nine were charged in Houston, TX; eight in Los Angeles, CA; 22
More people are dying each year due to prescription drugs than cocaine and heroin combined. These non-illicit drugs are costing us more than $400 billion a year for healthcare, loss of job wages, traffic accidents, and criminal system costs. We no longer have a problem with prescription drugs, we have an epidemic, namely with pain
