A lot, it turns out. The local retail pharmacy represents another front, and a complicated one at that, in the battle against prescription drug misuse and abuse. And you need to be aware of what some injured workers are facing when they take their prescriptions to the pharmacy.
Pharmacists are asking doctors questions about medical necessity... and doctors don't like that. "They [pharmacists] call us sometimes and if (a prescription) is medically necessary," says Dr. Rafael Miguel, an anesthesiologist in Tampa. "Well, if I write a prescription and it's got my DEA number and my signature on it, what do you think, I'm joking around?"
No, no one thinks this is a joke. But pharmacists, insurance adjusters, case managers, other physicians, public health workers, and many others think you might be lacking key clinical knowledge regarding the appropriateness of certain prescriptions (yes, even doctors can be under-educated). We don't think it's funny, we think it's tragic.
Then again, are pharmacists the right ones to be asking this question? I have neither the clinical knowledge nor the courage to weigh in on that, but it's a question with which the healthcare industry is currently wrestling. There is new tension in the traditionally high functioning relationship between doctors, pharmacists, and patients and pain killers are at the center of that tension.
For pharmacists and doctors reading this, nothing new here. But for insurance industry personnel, it's important for you to get up to speed on the details of what's happening in the midst of an ordinary pharmacy visit. We're revisiting some fundamental questions about the roles and responsibilities of various clinical constituencies. I'm confident the pendulum (currently swinging at different rates in different directions in different places) will eventually come to rest where it should.
In the meantime, be on the look out for injured workers caught in the crossfire.
Michael
On Twitter @PRIUM1
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