Rx Oversight Issues at Federal Workers’ Comp Program Endangered Patients, Audit Says

The failure of a federal workers’ compensation program to properly manage prescription drug use and costs resulted in approximately $321 million in overspending on medications and “claimants receiving thousands of inappropriate prescriptions and potentially lethal drugs” like fentanyl, according to a new report from a government watchdog agency. 

The Office of Workers’ Compensation Program (OWCP) said in the report, which reviewed data from fiscal years 2015-2020, that its hiring of a PBM in 2021 will address many of the concerns identified by auditors. But one consultant who participated in the audit contends that move will “absolutely not” fix the myriad oversight issues that were uncovered. In addition, the PBM’s contract does not require it to share any drug rebates with the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) program — which makes the program an “outlier” among other federal payers, Joseph Paduda tells AIS Health, a division of MMIT.