FROM THE FOUNDATION

End-of-Life Choices

Trends in end-of-life care show that not only does the care given vary widely from region to region and hospital to hospital, but also patients often don't get the care they prefer. What can be done?

Care Management Puzzle

Chronic diseases and the cost of care are rising. Are disease management programs improving outcomes for patients with complex, chronic conditions?

No Middleman

Under the "direct primary care" model, patients pay a monthly fee for basic medical services. Learn about the history and current landscape of physician practices offering this arrangement.

Prescription Drugs

Monday, December 12, 2011

Thousands of Rx Drug Files Missing at Vallejo Pharmacy

Last week, Vallejo Rite Aid officials announced that prescription drug files on about 3,000 customers have been missing since August. At the end of August, employees at the newly renovated Rite Aid on Solano Avenue realized that several boxes containing prescription records were missing. Spokesperson Ashley Flower said that the company has electronic copies of the files and that the missing files do not contain any credit card or Social Security numbers. Rite Aid retained a risk consulting firm to notify affected customers.

Reader Comments:
  • 1
  • 04/13/2012
  • Jason Adams

Now under investigation by the DEA is Walgreens - the nation's biggest retail pharmacy chain - in its ongoing crackdown on Florida's questionable market in illicit prescription painkillers.

Earlier this week, the DEA investigated 6 Walgreen drug stores from Fort Pierce to the Tampa Bay region and seized records from a Walgreen warehouse in Jupiter. The investigations were part of a probing in regard to heightened traffic in the painkiller oxycodone from those areas, court documents reveal.

The Walgreen probe is being headed up not by criminal investigators, but by the DEA's regulative branch, which accredits pharmacies, physicians and other medical services that disperse prescription drugs.

Recently, Florida has come to be the main source of illicit painkillers for the eastern United States, providing drug chains from Kentucky to Massachusetts. Many of these medicines have been channelled through storefront pain facilities operating in Broward and Palm Beach regions.



Readers are invited to send feedback to: chl@chcf.org

Click to register for California Healthline