CVS is accused of pressuring local pharmaceutical companies to give them the right to fill cancer-drug prescriptions.
The pharmaceutical chain manages prescriptions for millions of Americans but is reportedly trying to strong-arm their way into the lucrative business of cancer-drug prescriptions.
Ohio local pharmaceutical companies say that the chain has sent unsolicited faxes to cancer doctors using confidential patient information in an attempt to have prescriptions filed through them, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Pharmacy chain CVS is accused of intimating and pressuring cancer patients to use their prescription services rather than rely on oncology clinics
However CVS denies being involved in such practices.
Josh Cox, the pharmacy director for the Dayton Physicians Network, a large oncology practice in Ohio, says CVS has tried to bully their way into overtaking cancer drug prescriptions in his state.
Cox said a CVS representative called him and told him he was breaking the law if he didn’t transfer a particular patient’s prescription to the chain’s mail-order pharmacy.
Josh Cox, the pharmacy director for the Dayton Physicians Network, says the chain has tried to bully its way into overtaking the cancer drug prescription business in Ohio
Cox knew such a claim was false as he sits on the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy.
‘I was told it was against the law for our pharmacy to fill the prescription, which was very disturbing to me, because not only is that certainly untrue — there are no federal or state or local laws that dictate where a patient can get their prescription — but it took the whole trolling of prescriptions to a whole new level,’ Cox said to The Dispatch.
This isn’t the first time CVS has tried to hit at local pharmacists in the Ohio area.
The pharmacy chain has been accused of using its power as Ohio Medicaid’s lead pharmacy-benefit manager for its own devises.
CVS allegedly cut reimbursements to competing retail pharmacies and even sent them letters offering to buy them out.
Ohio pharmacists also say that CVS misuses its access to Medicare patients’ information to push them towards opting for the chain’s mail-order and retail services.
The chain defended itself Friday saying: ‘It is not our policy or practice to mislead or intimidate patients or providers’
Now CVS and other similar chains are being fired at by patients and hospital administrators who say that the mega pharmacies force cancer patients into the mail-order services, which often end up becoming expensive and confusing for the patient.
‘It was deeply disappointing to me that the process of trying to acquire business, so to speak, had devolved into intimidation tactics among pharmacies,’ Cox said.
CVS hit back against accusers on Friday.
‘It is not our policy or practice to mislead or intimidate patients or providers,’ spokesman Mike DeAngelis said in an email.
‘It is common for CVS Caremark to fax prior authorizations and refill requests to providers. A patient’s specialty prescriptions may be moved to CVS Specialty if a client has switched to a preferred or exclusive network when making a change to their plan design. Patients are notified in advance if their plan sponsor chooses to make such a change,’ he added.