Report finds few curbs on doctors who overprescribe
By Associated Press
Published December 4, 2003
FORT LAUDERDALE - Some Florida doctors charged with crimes or accused of other misconduct continued writing prescriptions, operating without any state oversight even when some of their patients had died of overdoses, a newspaper reported.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel investigated overdose deaths through autopsy records collected from Florida's two dozen medical examiners and through pharmacy billing data to many of the top Medicaid-prescribing doctors.
The newspaper found that 61 people died from overdosing on drugs prescribed by 16 Florida physicians who each billed Medicaid $1-million or more over the past three years. Medicaid pays for health care for many of the state's poor, elderly and disabled.
Of the 16 doctors, three have arrest records, including two on drug trafficking charges. A suspended doctor, Asuncion Luyao of Port St. Lucie, is facing six manslaughter charges related to deaths of patients in her care. Autopsy files show that 18 of Luyao's patients died of overdoses.
Agency for Health Care Secretary Dr. Rhonda M. Medows said Wednesday the state has been implementing a drug cost control and abuse prevention program since 1998 and has proposed legislation for the next session aimed at combatting prescription abuse.
"None of us are acting in a vacuum," Medows said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. "It's almost hilarious to think that people are saying that we are not doing anything."
The AHCA tracks trends in the prescription drug arena to help identify abuse and overpayment, and expanded audits of pharmacies participating in the Medicaid program, Medows said.
Part of the problem stemmed from a lack of standards for collecting and preserving evidence in drug deaths, the newspaper found.
Charges were filed against Luyao after Martin County Medical Examiner Roger Mittleman alerted authorities about the number of bodies arriving with pills from the doctor in evidence bags. But the newspaper could find no other medical examiners in the last two years who notified police or licensing boards about doctors linked to high numbers of overdose deaths.
State officials hope to set up a computer system to track all narcotics prescriptions in real time. A doctor or pharmacist could log on and verify on the spot whether a patient was receiving drugs from more than one doctor.
