Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Here’s a shocker – quoted from a FierceHealthcare piece last November. “oncologists accounted for only 1 percent of the 187,076 Actiq prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies in the U.S. during the first six months of 2006, The Wall Street Journal … Continue reading Off-label usage of Actiq
Read More...The latest shot in the battle against drug costs comes from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, which is reported to be denying coverage for off-label use of drugs such as Actiq and Fentora. Whenever CMS moves, the healthcare … Continue reading CMS denies off-label Actiq coverage
Read More...Actiq is a narcotic taken in lollypop form, a technique that gets the drug to the pain centers quickly. Developed for break-through cancer pain, evidence now suggests that only 10% of Actiq users have cancer.The high-powered narcotic has been the … Continue reading Actiq – the off-label poster child
Read More...Workers comp payers will be seeing a new drug on their top 25 lists soon – Fentora. While it may take a couple of years to attain Actiq’s top-five status, it will.
Read More...Our report on the audit of the Department of Labor’s federal employee (FECA) work comp pharmacy program is now public. Key findings…during the audit period (FY 2015 – FY 2020): 1330 oral fentanyl scripts were dispensed and paid for without … Continue reading What we found – the audit results
Read More...What’s the deal with long-term COVID? Why are facility costs increasing and where? How will labor market disruptions affect work comp? These and other questions will be addressed in Boston March 16 and 17 at WCRI’s Issues and Research Conference. … Continue reading COVID, facility cost drivers, employment – don’t miss WCRI’s annual confab
Read More...The single biggest crisis facing workers comp is NOT the market cycle, employment, rate adequacy, or regulatory changes. It is opioids. As Gary Franklin MD, Washington state fund’s Medical Director says, this is a “hair on fire” issue. I’m not … Continue reading Is your hair on fire yet?
Read More...Most workers’ comp executives have moved opioid abuse and overuse to the top of their “we’ve got to fix this now” list. Those who haven’t, should. Here’s why. Employers and insurers will spend $1.4 billion on narcotics this year; the … Continue reading Opioids in work comp – gaining visibility
Read More...The last two speakers at IAIABC were Safety National’s Mark Walls and IAIABC Executive Director Greg Krohm. Mark’s major concern is health reform will lead to access problems, especially with specialists such as orthopods and neurosurgeons. This may lead to … Continue reading Mark Walls and Greg Krohm on the future of work comp
Read More...The number of of people dead from opioid analgesic use quadrupled over the last nine years. Opioids are synthetic opiates, and include methadone, OxyContin, Percocet, Oxycodone, fentanyl, and Actiq. 11,499 people died as a result of opioid usage in 2007, … Continue reading Opioids, deaths, and workers comp
Read More...