The Oklahoma Health Care Authority has terminated three physicians and barred them from participating in the federal Medicaid program and is currently reviewing the status of 10 other physicians after their names appeared on a list of the top prescribers of frequently abused pain and mood-altering medications, according to a news report by The Oklahoman.
The list of the top 10 Oklahoma precribers for such medications as OxyContin and Xanax was requested by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who requested the list by a letter written to the authority last April.
In a letter to Department of Health & Human Service Kathleen Sebelius, Senator Grassley said he requested identities of "outlier" physicians nationwide in an effort to show high rates of prescribing are deserving of closer scrutiny by the department. In the letter, he cited Oklahoma psychiatrist Richard Zielinksi, MD, for writing more than 1,600 Medicaid prescriptions for Abilify in 2008 and more than 2,000 prescriptions for the same drug in 2009. In comparison, the second-highest prescriber of Abilify in 2009 was Oklahoma physician Charles Alan Lester, who wrote 994 prescriptions.
Oklahoma Health Care Authority's pharmacy director said writing a high number of prescriptions is not reason enough to terminate a physician from Medicaid. However, coupling a physician's high prescription rate with poor record-keeping or writing prescriptions to patients who are already receiving prescriptions from other physicians would merit an agency intervention.
Read the The Oklahoman news report about the Oklahoma crackdown on high rates of prescription.
Read other coverage about scrutiny over prescriptions:
- Florida Finalizes Pain Clinic Law
- Florida Board of Medicine Comes Down Hard on Pain Physicians Guilty of Fraud
The list of the top 10 Oklahoma precribers for such medications as OxyContin and Xanax was requested by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who requested the list by a letter written to the authority last April.
In a letter to Department of Health & Human Service Kathleen Sebelius, Senator Grassley said he requested identities of "outlier" physicians nationwide in an effort to show high rates of prescribing are deserving of closer scrutiny by the department. In the letter, he cited Oklahoma psychiatrist Richard Zielinksi, MD, for writing more than 1,600 Medicaid prescriptions for Abilify in 2008 and more than 2,000 prescriptions for the same drug in 2009. In comparison, the second-highest prescriber of Abilify in 2009 was Oklahoma physician Charles Alan Lester, who wrote 994 prescriptions.
Oklahoma Health Care Authority's pharmacy director said writing a high number of prescriptions is not reason enough to terminate a physician from Medicaid. However, coupling a physician's high prescription rate with poor record-keeping or writing prescriptions to patients who are already receiving prescriptions from other physicians would merit an agency intervention.
Read the The Oklahoman news report about the Oklahoma crackdown on high rates of prescription.
Read other coverage about scrutiny over prescriptions:
- Florida Finalizes Pain Clinic Law
- Florida Board of Medicine Comes Down Hard on Pain Physicians Guilty of Fraud