CVS to pay Massachusetts $795K, tighten policies for opioids

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CVS Pharmacy will strengthen its opioid policies and procedures and pay the state $795,000 following a settlement with the Attorney General Maura Healey’s office.

The settlement, the statement said, resolves allegations that CVS failed to provide its pharmacists in MA with a way to access the PMP prior to March 2013 and “that certain CVS pharmacies in MA failed to monitor drug use patterns or use sound professional judgment when dispensing controlled substances, particularly opioids”.

The database also provides the prescription history of a patient that can help identify drug-seeking behavior.

MA mandates that doctors, nurses, and other opioid prescribers check the state’s prescription monitoring program (PMP); and, now, 1,200 pharmacists working in CVS stores there will have to comply as well.

As a result of Thursday’s agreement, CVS will require its entire MA pharmacy staff to access the PMP website and review the prescription holder’s prescription history before dispensing certain prescribed drugs. The company says her investigation is a violation of consumer privacy rights and would harm the business.

Besides its pledge to check the PMP-which will reveal if a customer is getting drugs from multiple doctors or pharmacies-CVS also agreed to a $795,000 penalty. Healey says the company has about 350 pharmacies and 1,200 pharmacists in MA. She said some weapons are modified slightly to get around state law. The state had about 1,500 opioid-related deaths in 2015.