Southeast Texas Medical Associates, LLP James L. Holly, M.D. Southeast Texas Medical Associates, LLP


Letters - Transmission Cover Letter for Final Summary of Analysis of CVS Health CareMark Opioid Plan
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Finally, this series is complete and the link below is an annotated list of the ten articles which summarize our thoughts about this issue.

CVS Health Summary of September and October, 2017 Ten-Part Conversation About Opioids Abuse

In September, 2017, CVS Health's Pharmacy Benefits Manager, Caremark, announced that beginning in January, it would limit the dispensing of opioids to a one-week supply at a time.

For ten years, SETMA has been e-prescribing medications and for three years has been e-prescribing controlled substances and opioids. 

In our development of clinical decision support tools to decrease the abuse of opioids -- these tools are described in the link above -- SETMA came to believe that IF opioids were being properly and appropriately prescribed, they should be as easy to obtain as any other medication.  We believe that the way to control the abuse of opioids is not to make them more difficult to obtain but to make sure that they are being prescribed:

  • for valid reasons,
  • in appropriate amounts and
  • for reasonable durations. 

Over the six weeks after we became aware of CVS Health's plans, we prepared ten articles including a letter to the CVS Health’s CEO, to all 105 pharmacies in our area and to over 500 healthcare leaders in the United States and Australia.

Our conclusion is that the HMO with which we work and which employs Caremark as a PBM should "opt out" of CVS Health's new plan.  These articles explain why.

I invite you to review this material, make your own decision and if you choose to contact CVS Health with your ideas.  SETMA would also like to hear from you.

Sincerely,

James (Larry) Holly, M.D.
C.E.O. SETMA
www.jameslhollymd.com

 

Adjunct Professor
Family & Community Medicine
University of Texas Health San Antonio
The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine 

Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
School of Medicine
Texas A&M Health Science Center 

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