- Undercover govt investigators re-enrolled fictitious persons for health benefits (usnews.com)
Phony applicants that investigators signed up last year under President Barack Obama’s health care law got automatically re-enrolled for 2015 and some were rewarded with even bigger taxpayer subsidies for their insurance premiums, ..The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says 11 counterfeit characters that its investigators created last year were automatically re-enrolled for this year by HealthCare.gov.
- Nevada pursues death chamber, controversial drug (reviewjournal.com)
Nevada has no executions on the immediate horizon but is pushing ahead to build a new death chamber at Ely State Prison and would use... midazolam and hydromorphone to administer a lethal injection and has an adequate supply of these drugs to carry out an execution if ordered,.. almost assuredly would spawn lawsuits..
- Greece bans export of 25 drugs after pharmacists’ supply warnings (newsdaily.com)
…pharmacists made their warnings – that there had been a significant increase in re-exports of some medicines…"Abuses have been discovered by some players in the pharmaceuticals market,"…ministry would closely check exports and re-exports…file complaints at home and abroad where there is evidence of abuse..
- Leader of Large Prescription Drug Trafficking Ring Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison (dea.gov)
Donald Lee King previously admitted to orchestrating a criminal conspiracy that smuggled large quantities of Alprolazam from Mexico to Kentucky and Tennessee...has been sentenced to 180 months in federal prison.
- Lawmakers press administration on Medicare fraud (thehill.com)CMS slammed over Medicare fraud and connections to opioid abuse (modernhealthcare.com)
Lawmakers...accused ...administration of being slow to implement inspector general recommendations on fraud in the Medicare prescription drug program...has not fully implemented nine recommendations...to crack down on fraud in ...Medicare Part D, even though some of those recommendations were made as far back as 2006.
- U.S. FDA bans Emcure Pharma’s India plant over manufacturing issues (newsdaily.com)
Food and Drug Administration...banned drug imports from an India manufacturing unit of Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd over violations of standard manufacturing practices,...not meeting manufacturing quality standards.
- Hospital with repeat security failures hit with $218K HIPAA fine (healthcareitnews.com)
'Organizations must pay particular attention to HIPAA's requirements when using Internet-based document sharing applications' St. Elizabeth's Medical Center…will pay $218,400 to the Office for Civil Rights for alleged HIPAA violations…resulted from a..stating that the medical center was using a Web-based document-sharing application to store data containing protected health information.
- NCPA urges measured approach on Medicare Part D fraud prevention (drugstorenews.com)
… independent pharmacies are often located in the underserved and rural areas that are home to many Medicare recipients… National Community Pharmacists Association remains supportive of efforts to prevent and reduce fraud, waste and abuse within the Medicare Part D program, they must be delicately balanced with ensuring appropriate patient access to vitally important medications…
- One toke over the line: Race on to develop ‘pot breathalyzer’ (reuters.com)
...the race is on to develop an instant roadside breathalyzer for police to test drivers who may be taking the "high" road...Cannabix Technologies Inc,..expects to be first out of the gate with a "pot breathalyzer" - a handheld device similar to those used to detect alcohol.
- Manhattan U.S. Attorney Recovers $360,000 in Civil Penalties from a Rochester Pharmaceutical Company That Violated the Controlled Substances Act (dea.gov)
United States has filed and settled a civil lawsuit against ROCHESTER DRUG COOPERATIVE, INC.,.distributor of controlled substances...admitted and accepted responsibility for numerous violations of the Controlled Substances Act..agreed to pay $360,000 in penalties and to re-submit to DEA corrected record-keeping reports..