Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Sources Suggest Purdue Pharma Is Unnamed Player Involved With Alleged Opioid Scheme With Electronic Health Records Firm
Reuters: Exclusive: OxyContin Maker Purdue Is 'Pharma Co X' In U.S. Opioid Kickback Probe-Sources
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP is the unnamed company that surfaced in criminal charging documents filed earlier this week in a probe of illegal kickbacks from drugmakers, according to people familiar with the matter. Purdue Pharma, which faces U.S. Justice Department probes and sprawling litigation over allegations that it played a central role in the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic, faces new scrutiny in connection with a case Vermont federal prosecutors unveiled on Monday against a San Francisco electronic health records vendor. (Spector and Hals, 1/29)
Stat: Was Purdue The Unnamed Opioid Maker In Alleged Kickback Case?
In a statement Monday, Christina Nolan, the U.S. attorney for Vermont, called the conduct of the health-records company, Practice Fusion, “abhorrent.” “During the height of the opioid crisis, the company took a million-dollar kickback to allow an opioid company to inject itself in the sacred doctor-patient relationship so that it could peddle even more of its highly addictive and dangerous opioids,” Nolan said. “The companies illegally conspired to allow the drug company to have its thumb on the scale at precisely the moment a doctor was making incredibly intimate, personal, and important decisions about a patient’s medical care, including the need for pain medication and prescription amounts.” (Joseph, 1/28)
The San Francisco Chronicle: Feds Say This SF Firm Pushed Opioids With A Pop-Up. Now It’s Paying The Price
San Francisco electronic health records company Practice Fusion has agreed to pay $145 million to resolve charges that it took kickbacks from an opioid maker that used the company’s software to prod doctors to prescribe more opioid painkillers to patients, according to the Department of Justice. The department said the settlement, which followed from civil and criminal investigations, is the first criminal action against an electronic health vendor. (Ho, 1/28)
VT Digger: Health Records Firm Agrees To $145M Fine, The Largest Ever In Vermont
An electronic health records company is paying the largest criminal fine in Vermont’s history, stemming from allegations it illegally took a kickback from an unnamed pharmaceutical company in an effort to sell more of its “extended release opioid” medications. ... Nolan’s office found Practice Fusion and the drug company had conspired to target people who were “opioid naive” — those who had never been prescribed an opioid — and to encourage doctors to move patients using the immediate release drugs to the extended release drugs. (Dawson, 1/27)
In other news on the opioid crisis —
Reuters: Trump Administration Resolves Fentanyl Dispute But Congressional Support Needed For Broader Crackdown
The Trump administration has resolved an internal dispute over how to handle new variants of fentanyl that it believes can beef up the fight against the deadly synthetic painkiller without hindering research to ease the opioid crisis, according to a draft agreement seen by Reuters. The administration had hoped the deal, a copy of which was turned over to the Senate in the fall, would pave the way for Congress to pass their draft legislation into law, but so far it has failed to do so. (Lynch, 1/28)
The Hill: GOP Lawmaker: Democrats More Focused On Impeachment Than Getting Fentanyl Off Streets
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that Democrats are more focused on impeaching President Trump than getting fentanyl off the streets. Lesko spoke to reporters as President Trump’s lawyers began their final day of opening arguments, saying she wants to “get back to doing the business of America.” (Coleman, 1/28)
Belleville News-Democrat: Granite City Renters Face Eviction Over Drug Overdose 911 Calls During Opioid Epidemic
In Granite City, renters can be kicked out after calling for help for someone overdosing on drugs because of the city’s crime-free housing ordinance. Even if no one is arrested or charged with a crime, the drug use breaks Granite City’s rules for renters. (Cortes, 1/29)
