CALAIS, Maine — There are problems with how opiate-based pain medications are being prescribed at a Veterans Administration community-based clinic in Calais, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs investigation.
A report by the department’s inspector general states that the VA facility in Calais did not adequately assess or monitor patients who were prescribed opiate-based medications for chronic pain.
The VA Office of the Inspector General received an email from a complainant with concerns regarding management of patients on chronic opioid therapy and opioid prescribing practices, according to an OIG Healthcare Inspection report dated Aug. 21.
A federal inspection substantiated allegations that providers did not adequately assess patients who were prescribed opioids for chronic pain and that providers did not adequately monitor patients who were prescribed opioid medications for misuse or diversion of the medications, the executive summary of the report states.
The OIG recommended that certain procedures be implemented to ensure that providers at the Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Calais comply with Veterans of Health Administration policies concerning management of chronic pain patients on opioids. The summary stated that the facility directors agreed with the recommendations and provided a plan of action.
The inspectors concludes, “We will follow up on the planned actions until they are completed.”
The report’s claims have prompted U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to call for the hiring of a full-time doctor to oversee prescription allocation at the clinic.
“This report heightens my concern that extended gaps and inconsistent provider coverage undermines optimal care and is of great concern for the veterans of Eastern Maine and the community,” Collins said in a statement. “I strongly urge the VA to take the necessary steps to ensure that this critical health care position is filled quickly.”
The facility has been without a full-time doctor since January 2011.
Unfortunately, this lack of oversight seems to happen too often. This just feeds the problem of opiate addiction in Maine. Some people do not believe that addiction to prescribed opiates is as bad as addiction to street drugs, but from what I can tell, that is a distinction without a difference. There seem to be two types of drug pushers. One is the street dealer. The other is the Dr. Feelgood doctor, backed by Big Pharma in overprescribing drugs.
Don’t forget the schools that are turning our children into drug dependents at the earliest possible time. They are forbiden to instill disciplin so the only alternative is to have the kids diagnosed with one of the ‘alphabet’ conditions that will require them to be fed mood altering drugs. Big pharma loves that too.
WOW!?!? WHAT!?!? SHOCKING!!! Anyone who has seen the line at the Meth Clinic shouldn’t be surprised . It’s like the “After Thanksgiving Sale” when all the stores open at 2am and people are wrapped around the store. But in Calais everyday is free methadone day! Woohoo! Great job politicians! Keep trying to medicate the problem instead of holding people accountable for their actions!
Meth clinics kill people. They never wean anyone off; why would they? It’s for profit. Despicable.
So, it looks like the VA in Calais Maine is not doing things in accord with the directive from the DVA, and the Va Office of the OIG is not happy….looks like the CBOCC in Calais is in trouble with the the VHA and US Senator Collins is U.P.S.E.T., The VA in Calais needs to conform to the DVA directives regarding the CBOC located in Calais, and come into line with the VHA? Just trying to understand all the acronyms involved, then maybe we can figure out what really happened here….
The inmates are running the asylum.
I am curious to know WHY there has been no doctor on the premises since Jan 2011?? There always was one. Also, why does everyone have to go to TOGUS to get treatment for small stuff, why can’t they go to Bangor if no one is happy with the Calais hospital???
Bangor clinic is full
So what EXACTLY is wrong with the Calais Hospital?? Why can’t procedures be done there?? Why do we have to go to TOGUS for an eye exam and to get glasses? This has been a “crock of doodoo” for some time in my opinion!!!
Read the article again… This is not the Calais Hospital, but the VA Clinic in Calais, which is a separate entity from Calais Regional Hospital.
Take away the right for doctors to profit through kick backs when they prescribe pain meds or any other meds for that matter and things will change… The pill pushers pay doctors to prescribe their product. how is this good for you if a doctor has a pill for everything and everyone. and the pushers give doctors money for it… then you need 4 more pills to fix the side effects. LOL
I broke a bone in my shoulder. I wasn’t allow to leave without at least taking a scrip with me.. I told them I didn’t want it and yet they gave me one anyway.. I burn’t it in the wood stove
I agree, I have been to the hospital for various reasons over the years, and the doctors write the scripts for pain meds before I even feel any pain. I rip up the scripts. Ibuprofen takes care of most pain I have without the addictive potential.
same thing happened to me, and I got oxycodone. i took one when the paid started and it made me so sick, i threw them out. aspirin worked better.
Let me get this straight… The Calais Regional Hospital has had to lay off staff because of low census, and at the same time the VA Clinic doesn’t have a doctor. Why wasn’t the VA Clinic somehow incorporated into the regional hospital in the community? Even if it ran as a separate entity from the hospital, they could at least contracted doctor services if everything was on-site. To many of these fragmented agencies spread out all over the place, instead of consolidating them all under one roof with shared services. Talk about potential cost savings!
Soooo i’m just making a guess here but I think the reason DR.’s won’t come to calais is probably because there isn;t anything here and the pay sucks! In most healthcare offices in calais there is only like 1 DR. and the rest are FNP’s, or LPN’s, and the DR.’s are rarely open to see new patients. For any serious ailment you have you are refrred to a facility 90 miles away (attleast) or you bring yourself to the hospital. I have never found the faculty at CRH to over medicate, and I don;t blame them in the least for our opiate addiction problem. The methadone clinics are our problem. We’re treating drug addiction, with DRUGS!! On top of it the state is paying for the addicts to get their fix, and expecting to “wene” them off of it?? It doesn’t make any sense.