Ok looks like link didn't pop up; google -
"CVS Health Moves to Limit Access to Opioid Painkillers"
Bunch of articles pop up I was referring to FOX BUSINESS - it's easy find

I know. I feel the same way. I just had a doctors appointment to get a medical marijuana card. Don't know if it will work. Check the pain action newsletter. They are. Working on an action.

I'm applauded. How dare CVS.

Pain Network News.

Wow, does anyone read actually read articles anymore? This ONLY applies to *new* patients with *acute*, *short-term* pain conditions. This does not affect anyone who has chronic pain and is under the care of pain management specialist. This is to stop things such as a dentist giving out a 30 day supply of percs for a pulled tooth (for example).

I don't see any problem with this at all. It would be different if they made the decision to stop taking chronic pain prescriptions, but that's not what they are doing. As a company, they made the decision that they aren't going to take some of these crazy prescriptions that some doctors write. If it's for something that is very, very short term, and the doc is writing for a 30 day supply, CVS has every right to say no.

Wow I do read !!!! I quote "CVS will also limit patients with chronic pain to a maximum daily dose......." . I'm not ok with a pharmacy managing my dose. Or what about the people that will be chronic pain patients in the future do they not matter are they not AS important? Should we not care if changes will alter future CP peeps help/care?!?!
@YvetteK your tone was condescending. CVS has mapped out for chronic pain patients dose limits; in my opinion that affects us. I actually did read the article.

The majority of the articles I read only stated this affected new patients with short term, acute pain. I don't have any problem with that. Fox Business is the only one I read that talked about limiting the daily dose for those with chronic pain. I don't know the equivalent of 90 mg of morphine across the board of every opiate. But as a company, this is what CVS has decided.

I have read so many people's opinion on this in the few days since this has come out. Many people say "They are not the doctor, their job is just to fill the script". It would be great if some of these doctors would stop over prescribing. I had a doctor like that. He was a really good doctor. I broke my back and was paralyzed for a time. If it wasn't for this doctor, I don't think I would be walking today. But one day his office was raided. It was so bad, one of the doctors that worked with him turned him in. He was once a good doctor, but it's doctors like him that would give percs for a stubbed toe, probably gave to people who sold it on the street, sold to who knows. Doctors like him contribute to addiction, and ultimately things like a company putting restrictions on prescriptions.

I'm not being condescending. I understand chronic pain. I'm in it everyday. Still, this is mainly targeted at new patients with short, acute pain. I understand this will affect some chronic pain patients, and they will have to find new pharmacies. Yes, it is an inconvenience, but there is no easy answer to this problem.

If you go to (google) opioid dose calculator it'll tell you if your over or under.

There are many other phamacies to choose from. I would avoid cvs if it were me.

God Bless

The new CVS Policy is aimed at those prescribed opiates for the first time. The policy states "This program will include limiting to seven days the supply of opioids dispensed for certain acute prescriptions for patients who are new to therapy; limiting the daily dosage of opioids dispensed based on the strength of the opioid; and requiring the use of immediate-release formulations of opioids before extended-release opioids are dispensed."

It is sad All doctors do not now know prescribing opiates for Acute Pain is different than prescribing it for Chronic Pain. Many states have passed laws to limit first time prescription of opiates for acute pain to 7 days. Extended release opiates should never be prescribed for acute pain.

There is nothing for an attorney to do. If someone doesn't like the new CVS policy they do not have to use them.


https://cvshealth.com/

@Pain-less_pain:

This is nothing new, it is the same Guidelines that the CDC put out at the beginning of the year. You need to read the mandatory Government Laws.

There is a big difference between ACUTE Pain and CHRONIC Pain. This article is just saying the CVS will be following the CDC's recomendations that patients who've never used OPIOID/Narcotic Pain Meds will be limited to 7 days use, as it should be. After that tylenol, advil, orudis kt or the like should be adequate. People who use narcotics for Acute Pain are the majority of those who end up getting addicted to them, not because they need them, because they like them and they make you feel good.

The article also reiterates the CDC's ruling that Chronic pain patients who use Narcotics will be limited to a maxium daily dose of a 90mg Morphine equivalent. None of this is new and these Rules were put into effect months ago, so I'm not sure why you're up in arms about it. CVC is just trying to look good by backing up the CDC, probably because they are a suckass pharmacy and most people do not like them. Their expensive and their customer service sucks.

I've used RiteAid, formerly Eckerd Drugs, same location, same pharmacist for 18 years now and I've never had a single problem. My pharmacist is awesome and goes out of her way to help me with anything I need...and when you take 22 pills and injections a day you spend a lot of time with your Pharmacist.

Next time perhaps read the Article a little more clearly as there is nothing new in this one.

@YvetteK was not being condescending, we just all new this was already law in the U.S. And your quote "CVS will also limit patients with chronic pain to a maximum daily dose......." was incorrect. The Pharmacy is not managing peoples dosages and the people that will be chronic pain patients in the future will follow the same CDC guidelines that the rest of us in the U.S. go by. Everyone cares when changes to medication laws affect our Future but these changes were made over 9 months ago. There are no Pharmacy's that can set limits as to what amounts of medications people can have they do not have that education, license or power.

I've been in Pain Management for 31 years and take multiple Narcotic Pain Medications everyday and am very familiar with the laws and guidelines for Pain Medication dosages and guidelines. And who can dose what depending on whether you see a Pain Management Dr. or a M.D. or PCP.

You can go on the CDC or FDA websites and read the Guidelines for dosing Narcotic/Opioid medications to Chronic Pain Patients and Acute Pain Patients.

Take care,
Kat

And no there is no course for Legal Action here unless you want to try and take on the CDC and the FDA, they are the one regulating the amounts.

For clarification:

The maxium daily dose of 90mg Morphine equivalent is for chronic patients being treated by a M.D. or PCP, not a Pain Management Specialist. This is because these Dr.'s do not take specialized coursework in Pain Management, they don't specialize in it and they don't know how to properly treat it...and they end up over prescribing narcotics and opioids. Pain Management is not "Medicate you until your Painfree", it's give you medication mixed with various other therapies like PT and Injections, TENS Units, Compound Creams or surgeries to get you to a point where you can have a quality of life. So you can get around, drive, take care of your home, work, do enjoyable things like have hobbies or work in your gardens, etc.

There's not a sentence in a Pain Contract that will say, "We will get you painfree!" Personally my quality number is a 4, used to be a 5, but my body has added a couple more diseases that cause pain, so a 5 is being a little aggressive. If my pain stays at a 4 during the day, I can drive myself to work, work for 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, take care of my flower and small veggie garden, do my day to day house work and life my life. I have Breakthru meds for the end of the day when the 4 has gone bye-bye and the 100mg of Morphine isn't quite doing the job. Yes I have to have a house cleaner come and do the heavy cleaning, yes I have to have my son wash the car and rake the leaves, and move the furniture around when it starts to bug me. So what, I'm 48, I'm not going to make a big deal out of the small stuff. As long as I can work and take care of myself and enjoy traveling on the weekend with my S.O. and don't have to spend too much time in the Hospital or having surgeries I'm okay. I don't expect miracles, not with all the crap that's wrong with this body!

Sometimes I think we have to remember that Dr.'s are not God and they are not Miracle Workers, they only have so much to work with.

Kat

I am just waiting for someone with some power to bring a suit against them for practicing medicine without a license or a proper relationship with the patient. This is totally illegal. It is not up to the pharmacist to decide to over rule the doctors decisions. The doctor has taken a proper medical history and had a conversation with the patient which gives her the power to make such decisions. The pharmacist has no such relationship.

Brightside,

The 'them' I'm assuming you mean Pharmacists. In this case that the OP is talking about with CVS, the pharmacy/pharmacist's did not do anything untoward or out of their scope of their license. They were just reporting what the current Laws are since they were changed by the CDC and FDA at the beginning of 2017. The pharmacy is not practicing medicine, they're just saying they won't go over what the CDC/FDA Rules now in place are, because if they did get a script from some random Dr. who didn't follow those Rules and they did not follow the Rules and filled a Script that broke them, that Pharmacist could lose his/her license and the Pharmacy could lose their DEA privileges and not be allowed to handle and fill narcotic prescriptions anymore...

As for legal action because the pharmacist doesn't have the proper relationship with the patient, there is no such thing. 1. Its the indiviuals responsibility to introduce themselves to the pharmacist and take the time to explain about their medical conditions, their medications, any meds they're allergic to, and give all of their contact information. 2. you can't sue a Pharmacist because he didn't make time to properly introduce himself and start a conversation with each person bringing in a prescription to be filled. And at the pharmacy they aren't patients, they're just consumers shopping in a retail store.

This is an area that causes me a LOT of stress... I didn't think it was within the purview of the CDC to determine medical treatment guidelines when they came out with this bullshit early this year. I've been treated by pain management specialists since 1994 and due to problems with synthetic opioid and other "alternatives" causing horrific side-effects, not mediating my pain, increasing pain over time, and tolerance building up, I'm currently at about 300 morphine equivalents a day split between two strengths of morphine and dilaudid... When I had my genetic profile done by my pain doc recently, it showed what we already knew -- that I over-metabolize my opioid meds and need a higher dose to ensure pain treatment efficacy.

Even though my pain doc is the founder and head of the hospital's pain treatment center, is on the governor's advisory panel for medical marijuana, and is widely respected in the field, I've had one of his PAs tell me flat out at an appointment that he would not write me my regular scripts because he didn't feel comfortable prescribing those meds in those quantities... Jesus-H-Fucking-Christ! Pardon my favorite expletive but this current climate of fear has lead so many so-called experts, all with their heads shoved firmly up their asses, to call for or even create rules that do nothing to curb illegal opioid abuse but only make it harder for patients like us to get the medications we legitimately need. This has to stop! On the good 'ol 1 to 10 pain scale, I haven't had a day under a 6 or 7 in well over a decade... most days revolve around at an 8 or 9, although subjectively I'd most often classify them as a 10+ at one point or another... that's usually when I reach for the Yukon Jack... or just devolve into a weeping mess for an hour or two if I have the house to myself... IT SUCKS!!! And fears of limited opioid doses, which do seem to be more possible over time, ain't helping any either!

OK, I've been typing too long and getting myself all worked up about this... I need a break... However, just one last comment about large pharmacies... here, I had gotten all my scripts from Walgreens for years... a couple years ago, they went all "Big Brother" and changed their policies about filling opioid scripts that added hours of delays in getting them filled and even stated that if they didn't like the way the patient/customer was acting they could refuse to fill the script... I've since switched all my pain meds to another pharmacy in town and I'm currently switching all my other scripts to them as well... No Big Brother needed for scripts!

Oh well, enough of that... wishing good things for one and all... Peace, love & hugs...