Response to Pain News Network article of 8-8-19

Here’s my response to an article posted on Pain News Network on August 8, 2019 by Pat Anson and titled: “Experts Advise Against It, But Opioids Often Used to Treat Migraine.”

“While there have been numerous other medications available to treat migraines, many practitioners fail to use them. I have had plenty of patients come to my office with a migraine history, yet have never been offered any of the triptan medications like sumatriptan and others, despite them being around for years. Now with the newer CGRP medications, fewer patients will be able to even try them due to the cost.

Insurance companies require time-consuming Prior Authorizations (PA) and find every way they can to deny or delay the medications. There are offices in the Roseburg, Oregon area that refuse to even do the PA’s to help their patients. They don’t really give a damn about the patients’ health or quality of life, they just go on billing the insurance companies for the maximum for each visit despite the fraudulent records they create; no true physical exams, never really reconciling the medication lists, cut-and-paste entries all over the place, etc. etc.

Does Medicare or Medicaid do anything about it? NO! Government waste at its finest! Fraud is fraud, yet even the medical board doesn’t consider it an ethical violation or unprofessional conduct. MONEY overrides our healthcare.”