Next week, the legislature comes back to a packed agenda, which includes the budget and veto overrides. Spending allocations for a number of key accounts was vetoed, and other important priorities were given far less than required due to the dramatic revenue shortfall.
Pfizer to the rescue! Pfizer (which merged with Wyeth in January) will pay $2.3 billion in the “largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the U.S. Justice Department.” The settlement includes a guilty plea for the felony of ‘intent to defraud or mislead’ in addition to the billions paid. This is the latest in a string of settlements (the fourth for Pfizer in the past decade) between pharmaceutical companies and the U.S. Justice Department for kickbacks to doctors and overcharging Medicaid programs (NY Times details here).
According to Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Civil Division: “Illegal conduct and fraud by pharmaceutical companies puts the public health at risk, corrupts medical decisions by health care providers and costs the government billions of dollars. This civil settlement and plea agreement by Pfizer represent yet another example of what penalties will be faced when a pharmaceutical company puts profits ahead of patient welfare.”
The Commonwealth’s share of the settlement $14.7 million. It would be poetic justice to devote the funds Massachusetts receives from this settlement to two critical budget line items that reduce the cost of prescription drugs for the state and low-income residents.
One, Prescription Advantage. This is a state sponsored prescription assistance program for the elderly and some individuals who are disabled. It had 64,000 enrollees in 2008 and the budget cuts caused 14,600 enrollees to lose the prescription drug assistance that keeps our seniors healthy, independent and out of more expensive care.
Two, Academic Detailing. This evidence-based prescription drug outreach and education program takes information learned through comparative effectiveness research on drugs and translates it into practice for health care practitioners. This program is designed to generate health care cost savings for the state. According to an economic model developed by Dr. Avorn and Dr. Soumerai at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, every dollar spent on academic detailing returns, at a minimum, two dollars in drug cost savings. The legislature appropriated $250,000 to keep the program alive, but the Governor vetoed even that small amount.
Putting the proceeds there would honor the source and the intent of the settlement. Thanks, Pfizer.
-Georgia Maheras
