New Laws?

[Dee1956]

Hello I live in Virginia, my spouse is on pain management.  Due to an insurance snafu 5 years ago,  one day our ins said they would not pay for his medication.  The cost was $1,000, I could not pay for it.   I asked him to please get a pain medicine that we could pay for in case the insurance would not pay.
So...he got on methadone, it is pretty inexpensive and I thought it would work.  It has...for over 5 years, no problems, until today.  We went to CVS which is where he always goes...they would not fill his prescription until they spoke to the doctor.  the doctor was not in for several hours so it was an anxious morning.
I called the doctor to try to see what was going on, I wanted to know why the prescription was questioned.  The office manager explained that there are some new laws in place and Virginia is one of the states really pushing it..to limit narcotics and even to pull methadone from the pharmacies.
I was then told that my husband was the 5th patient this week to have a problem filling a pain medication in Virginia.  Not all of these pain meds were methadone.
I am trying to find some information which will help my husband so he does not have this problem next month.
We may have to have his medication switched.   I don't know and am hoping someone on here can give me some insight as to what has changed.
I would appreciate any help you could give
Thank you
Dee

[shinty]

i'm in massachusetts and have heard from a few pharmacists, as well as mt pain doctor that the DEA is "cranking down" on anything and everything regarding pain medications. Walgreens pharmacy requires they speak with the prescribing doctor by telephone in order to make sure the prescribed pain medications are actually needed by the patient! They also require the Dx codes to be on the prescription (these are numeric codes that relate to specific conditions such as: back pain, leg pain, depression, etc.). I think this is ridiculous. The fact that a person has a prescription from a licensed doctor should be enough information for a pharmacist to fill a pain medicine prescription. I don't understand how this helps anyone? It certainly takes up a lot of the doctor's time, as well as the pharmacists! I think everyone should sit down together to figure out solutions to problems. I think it's ludicrous to have a pharmacist require this, a doctor that, and a patient this! Doctors, the DEA, pharmacists, patients, EVERYOINE, sit down TOGETHER and figure it out. It's starting to be a pain in order to get pain medicine! Chronic pain is already a vicious cycle, lets not make it harder and more time consuming than it already is. Unfortunately i think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better folks.
         shinty

[Dee1956]

Thank you very much for your answer, he is on generic, we could pay if we need to.  I was wondering why the pharmacy who had filled his prescription for 5 years would now be questioning his prescription.  We thought it was the ins, it wasn't.

Since I wrote this question I  found out that CVS is having problems in Florida so they are changing their in house rules on narcotics.

Thank you


Thank you again
D

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi!
Yes, there is news about strict laws in the US regarding use of narcotic pain killers. Methadone is one of the drugs they are becoming strict about. You could talk to the doctor and ask for prescription of generic drugs, may not be methadone, but some other pain killers. Generic drugs are cheaper and equally effective. Other than this some physiotherapy may be of some help. Take care!

The medical advice given should not be considered a substitute for medical care provided by a doctor who can examine you. The advice may not be completely correct for you as the doctor cannot examine you and does not know your complete medical history. Hence this reply to your post should only be considered as a guiding line and you must consult your doctor at the earliest for your medical problem.

[Dee1956]

If I take out the Virginia part, does anyone know about new laws in place that are preventing pain patients from getting their medication?