Questionable doctor continued to prescribe drugs illegally after conviction

Anne Zieger — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:40:04 -0500

Critics of Pennsylvania's discipline of wayward doctors now have a prime example: an incompetent doctor that continued to practice even after being convicted of a felony.

Richard A. Brown may not have even finished all his medical coursework, prosecutors allege, describing a complicated set of transfers between foreign medical schools. Brown may have falsified transcripts and even residency evaluations for residencies that apparently never even took place.

Then, after he passed the licensing exam on his third try, he began practicing medicine. He was convicted on a felony drug charge in 2003, but kept practicing medicine through loopholes in Pennsylvania. Now he is accused of illegally prescribing 270 drugs for six known drug users, including Percocet, Oxycontin, Xanax and Vicodin.

And just in case he escapes these charges, this time he and his wife face tax-evasion charges, too.

To learn more about the case against Brown
- read this Philadelphia Inquirer piece

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DEA wants tough rules for e-prescribing controlled drugs

Anne Zieger — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:09:23 -0400

For a long time, government officials, health plans and IT vendors have been trying to get doctors to write prescriptions electronically. Many doctors have held back, though, because at least 10 percent of their scripts were for controlled substances like OxyContin and Vicodin, which can't legally be e-prescribed--and who wants to switch back and forth from paper to computer? Things may change soon, as the DEA has proposed a rule that would allow physicians to write e-scripts for controlled drugs. That being said, however, it still won't be easy to do. In fact, everyone involved will be required to comply with a boatload of regulations if they want to participate.

The controlled-substances e-prescribing rules impose a range of new regulations on doctors, hospitals and pharmacies that want to participate. Not only would doctors have to register in person with law-enforcement officials, but they'd also have to allow routine audits of their prescription records. Pharmacists, meanwhile, would have to verify weekly that doctors doing the prescribing remain licensed and in good standing, keep digital records of the controlled drug e-prescriptions and notify the DEA within 24 hours in the case of a security violation.

To learn more about the rules:
- read this Modern Healthcare article (reg. req.)

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