Key Maryland lawmakers have agreed not to seek limits on the practice of physicians directly dispensing prescription drugs to workers' compensation patients — often at sky-high prices – after insurance companies reported the practice is declining.
The members of the General Assembly's joint subcommittee on workers' compensation have agreed not to seek legislation on the topic for two General Assembly sessions, according to a letter signed in February by State Sen. Katherine A. Klausmeier of Baltimore County and Del. Sally Y. Jameson of Charles County, both Democrats. They are the co-chairs of the subcommittee.
The state's Workers Compensation Commission reported that about 3 percent fewer doctors were writing prescriptions in 2013 compared with 2011. And Chesapeake Employers' Insurance Company, the largest insurer in the state, said the increase it saw in physician-dispensing in 2009 and 2010 did not continue in subsequent years, according to the letter.
Last year, lawmakers proposed limiting the amount of medication a physician can sell directly to a patient to a 30-day supply. Proponents argued the limit could help curb excessive workers' compensation costs. But doctors have contended such bills interfere with a practice that is convenient for patients who don't want to visit a pharmacy.
Maryland doctors who dispense under the state's workers' compensation system charge four times more than pharmacies for pills of painkillers Vicodin and Percocet and nearly seven times more for muscle-relaxer Soma, according to the Massachusetts-based Workers Compensation Research Institute.
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