Oxycodone Prescriptions Increase 82% in NY

A report, issued by the New York Attorney General, shows that there was an eighty-two percent (82%) increase in oxycodone prescriptions from 2007 to 2010. The report further revealed a thirty-six percent (36%) increase for all pain medications. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is promoting the implementation of a real-time tracking system and the requirement for practitioners and pharmacists to check the system prior to prescribing and dispensing medications for New York.

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New Hydrocodone Pill Planned

The Zogenix Company plans to market a pure hydrocodone pill, Zohydro, early next year. Zohydro contains four (4) times the amount of hydrocodone as Vicodin© and employs a time-release feature similar to OxyContin©. Critics of this new medication are worried that abusers will crush the pill to circumvent the tamper resistant feature. April Rovero, president of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse, voiced concerns that Zohydro could be the next OxyContin©.

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Massachusetts AG Provides Online Complaint Form for Medicaid Fraud

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s office has created an online form to facilitate the Medicaid fraud complaint process. The form and the existing telephone tip line are used by individuals to report crimes in the Medicaid system. The form requires the complainant to provide the subject, suspected fraud, and synopsis of the event. The complaints are reviewed daily by the Medicaid Fraud Division to determine if an investigation is warranted.

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DEA Issues Immediate Suspension on Wholesaler in Florida

The Miami Field Division issued an Immediate Suspension Order (ISO) at Cardinal Health, a wholesale distributor in Lakeland, Florida. DEA alleges that the Cardinal Health Distribution Center failed to maintain effective controls against the diversion of controlled substances and failed to conduct due diligence to ensure the controlled substances were not diverted into other than legitimate channels. There were also two (2) CVS pharmacies identified in the ISO. According to the ISO, Cardinal Health distributed over three million dosage units of oxycodone to the two (2) pharmacies in one year.

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Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program Annual Report

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report indicating that the health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts recovered almost $2.4 billion dollars through civil health care fraud cases, $1.3 billion dollars in criminal fines, forfeitures, restitution, and disgorgement with criminal charges filed against 1,430 defendants, and 743 defendants convicted for health care fraud related crimes in FY 2011.

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