Day: 03/05/2015

It Was A Nice Day

Russell Stover’s Easter candy for breakfast, homemade chicken soup for brunch, and a purple mountain at sunset — which didn’t occur until after 6pm.  (Another sign of spring.)  I did laundry. I had a friendly visit with a fellow cannabis lover.  I dusted.  (Achooo!)  I vacuumed.  It was a nice, productive day.

It appears that Express Scripts really sucks

https://myfridayblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/05/another-open-letter-to-express-scripts/

http://editor-mom.blogspot.com/2005/11/inside-hell-of-express-scripts.html

Tonight I heard from Rachel bat Avraham,* a courageous Express Scripts employee who’s been following my Express Scripts saga here:

I would advise any of you out there who are fed up with Express Scripts to continue to hound the media and turn it into a public affair, because I promise you, the higher-ups won’t like the bad press. And if you do it, you don’t risk being tossed out on your can without any unemployment.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Express-Scripts-Medco-worst-company-ever/188218247983326

(2012) I started this page minutes ago and Medco already contacted me…

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/rx/express_scripts.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2014/11/24/express-scripts-is-sued-by-compound-pharmacies-for-denying-claims/

11/24/2014, Express Scripts is Sued by Compound Pharmacies for Denying Claims

Now, three compounding pharmacies are fighting back. Last week, three compounders filed a lawsuit charging Express Scripts is illegally blocking legitimate prescriptions and unfairly forcing patients to seek more expensive treatments or forgo medical care…

http://www.sommerspc.com/en/practice-areas/class-action/News.aspx

On April 8, 2014, attorneys from Sommers Schwartz filed a collective action complaint against Express Scripts on behalf of employees claiming to have not received wage and overtime compensation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The plaintiffs assert that the company intentionally failed to pay all of its call center employees for time spent each day loading up their complex computer and phone systems, time they spent working on their unpaid lunch breaks, and time spent shutting their computers down – tasks for which the U.S. Department of Labor has declared call center employees are to be compensated. Express Scripts has more than a dozen call centers throughout the United States. The lawsuit is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Express-Scripts-RVW5819171.htm

1/30/2015, “Who is going to start the class action lawsuit? ”

http://www.law360.com/articles/533271/whistleblower-accuses-express-scripts-of-hiding-overcharges

Whistleblower Accuses Express Scripts Of Hiding Overcharges

Law360, New York (May 01, 2014, 2:05 PM ET) — A former senior manager for finance adjustments with Express Scripts Holding Co. has filed a whistleblower suit against the company in New Jersey court, claiming she was canned after protesting the company’s inaction over a coding error that led to overcharges for compound prescriptions. Darcy Dinielli says in the April 21 Morris County complaint that Express Scripts reimbursed at least two clients who complained about the overcharges in 2012 but says that, despite many other clients being impacted by the coding error, the company chose not to reimburse those who had not discovered the mistake…

http://www.pbmwatch.com/pbm-litigation-overview.html

Federal and State Litigation Regarding Pharmacy Benefit Managers

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2521442/data-privacy/no-harm–no-foul–says-judge-in-express-script-data-breach-case.html

A federal court in Missouri has thrown out a consumer class-action lawsuit that was brought against pharmacy benefits company Express Scripts over a 2008 data breach in which millions of customer records were believed to have been illegally accessed…

http://express-scripts.pissedconsumer.com/

http://mixedupmommy.com/2013/11/12/how-is-accredo-pharmacy-getting-away-with-this/

I have previously written about my issues getting my son’s vigabatrin from Accredo Pharmacy here, here and here. (Update: this message was left on my blog Hi – This is Jennifer Luddy from Express Scripts. We do care very much about our patients, and if you have a service concern, we want to make it right. Please send me an email at ExpressRxHelp@express-scripts.com, and I will assist you.)

Voices of pain patients

https://findingoutfibro.wordpress.com/

When I first gathered the courage and research needed to talk to a doctor about Ehler-Danlos Syndrome, her immediate reaction was to call me fat. Yes, really. She looked at me, puzzled, and said, “Isn’t that a disease for tall and thin people?” and I had to bite my tongue, hard. I also had to accept that she was not going to help me with this. Not now, and not ever. She simply thought I was nuts, even though I match 100% of both diagnostic criteria. It was humiliating, I felt lower than dirt and like maybe she was right, maybe it was all in my head, I was making this up for attention or so I didn’t have to work anymore. She had me so confused at a difficult time in my life when I didn’t realize that pain affects cognitive abilities, and she definitely abused her position of power as a doctor, numerous times. I started to internalize all her comments about my psychiatric health, personality flaws, and physical unattractiveness. I lost trust in myself completely because I thought I was either dying or a liar, and I couldn’t figure out which one…

Personal exemptions are not for abortions only

https://progressnownm.wordpress.com/2015/03/05/personal-exemptions-widen-reach-of-abortion-bills/

The professed reason for this clause is to make sure pharmacists with personal objections to abortion won’t have to dispense medication that “will result in the termination of a pregnancy.”

Does that mean Mormon pharmacists won’t have to dispense pain medications?  Church of Scientology pharmacists won’t have to dispense anti-depressants?  Women pharmacists won’t have to dispense testosterone?  Skinny pharmacists won’t have to dispense diet medications?

What about the children?

http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=9561

Keara sees a specialist at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, who gave her the prescription. It’s a drive Townsend now takes often because her local pharmacies, which had filled the Focalin for more than a decade, suddenly refused.  “CVS pushes it back to me and tells me flat out, ‘I will not fill this,’” Townsend said. “They have no response other than, ‘I’m sorry. You have to take it somewhere else.’”  The someplace else is the pharmacy at Children’s Hospital, which is a 230-mile, four-hour round-trip from their home in Ocala…

Ex-NFL Player Says He Smoked Marijuana To Avoid Prescription Drug Addiction

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/05/nate-jackson-marijuana_n_6807842.html

Jackson said he never used marijuana before games or practices and knows of nobody who did. But, he said it helped him recover afterward and it didn’t adversely affect his performance. In fact, he said, it helped him hone his craft because he would visualize successful play while high “and that carried over to when I was sober.”

“I consider it a performance-inspiring drug,” Jackson said…

“Michael Phelps is the best swimmer that the Earth has ever produced by far. And he smokes weed,” Jackson said. “That should tell us something.”

Yes, Black America Fears The Police. Here’s Why.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/05/black-america-police_n_6808506.html

A few months ago, a police officer approached my neighbor as he was leaving the bodega and began questioning him. My neighbor is quiet and respectful, but he also is poor and transient. He tends to look disheveled, but the worst thing I’ve seen him do is drink beer on the stoop.

When he asked why he was being stopped, the police grabbed him and threw him to the ground. As someone recorded the incident on a cellphone, police shot my neighbor with a Taser gun and then arrested him.

He was never told why police stopped him. The only thing they charged him with was resisting arrest. But this arrest cost him his job and a fine he will struggle to pay. If he doesn’t pay, a judge will issue a bench warrant, and instead of preventing crime, the police will have created a criminal…