High Prescribing Connecticut APRN Charged With Accepting Kickbacks; Comes On Heels Of Connecticut Sunshine Law Targeting APRNs

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Connecticut has announced that an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) practicing in the state has admitted to receiving $83,000 in kickbacks—mostly as a speaker at dinner programs—by an unnamed drug manufacturer. The press release states that Heather Alfonso was a “heavy prescriber” of a drug used to treat cancer pain. They noted that a review of Medicare Part D prescription drug events for prescribers of the drug showed that Alfonso was responsible for more than $1 million in claims and was the highest prescriber of the drug in Connecticut. However, the government found through interviews with Alfonoso’s Medicare Part D who were prescribed the drug, revealed that most of them did not have cancer, but were taking the drug to treat their chronic pain. This latest press release is notable for several reasons: First, Connecticut recently passed a law requiring manufacturers to report their transfers of value made to APRNs practicing in Connecticut. This group includes nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives. APRNs are excluded from the reporting obligations under the Federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, but Connecticut passed this disclosure requirement as part of a new initiative allowing APRNs to practice and prescribe independently of physicians. This law was originally supposed to go into effect July 1, 2015, but was recently pushed back to 20...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs