Florida Governor Took Pfizer Donations, Now Wants to Kill "Pill Mill" Database
Let's play connect the dots with Florida's new Republican governor, Rick Scott. He's trying to kill a new law enforcement database of "pill mills" in Florida that liberally dispense OxyContin, oxycodone, and other highly addictive painkillers. The database -- which is already law but Scott wants it repealed -- was created two years ago to thwart "an explosion of storefront pain clinics across South Florida, making the region the main supplier of black-market pills across Appalachia and the East Coast," according to the Miami Herald.
Clinics are lightly regulated in Florida and have created a "doctor shopping" plague, in which painkiller addicts go from one shady physician to the next collecting multiple questionable prescriptions.
By amazing coincidence, Scott is the owner/founder of Solantic, a chain of walk-in clinics in Florida. Before Scott was elected, one of his former employees, Dr. Randy Prokes, accused Solantic of using nurse practitioners to treat patients but telling Medicare they were treated by doctors, and of applying "inappropriate pressure on physicians to sell drugs that Solantic has on sale in their facilities." (Click to enlarge image of Prokes' email.)
By another amazing coincidence, Solantic CEO Karen Bowling says Prokes was fired in 2009 for writing a painkiller prescription outside the clinic, which is prohibited by company policy. She casts him as a disgruntled former employee.
By yet another amazing coincidence, one of the donors to Scott's inaugural committee, a fundraiser held in December after he was elected, is Pfizer (PFE), which gave $10,000 to the governor's cause.
By a further amazing coincidence, Pfizer recently acquired King Pharmaceuticals, which makes abuse-resistant painkillers -- and regular painkillers.
Only a cynic would suggest that these issues are linked. There is no evidence to suggest that Scott has anything to hide, or that if law enforcement officials were to get a better look at who's prescribing what at Solantic it would reflect badly in any way on Scott. Florida does have a code of ethics for public officials that prevents them using their office for private gain, but it is not clear that the database would help or hinder Solantic in any way.
As for Pfizer, the donation is so small it looks more like the sort of goodwill gesture that companies routinely make to newly elected politicians than a pay-to-play act.
Nonetheless, this is politics and it's all about appearances. If you're a governor who owns a chain of walk-in clinics, holding up legislation that provides stricter oversight of them just looks bad. And if you're a drug company making cash donations to politicians who also earn a living in the healthcare business, you can't expect no one to notice.
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