Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein Posts

Medicare plans to arm itself with broad new powers to better control — and potentially ban — doctors engaged in fraudulent or harmful prescribing, following a series of articles by ProPublica detailing lax oversight in its drug program. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) described the effort late Monday in what’s known as a proposed rule, the standard process by which federal agencies make significant changes.

The story of Denise Heap and her aging mother Joyce is unfortunately not unique. Scammers use the very old or infirm to bilk Medicare Part D, the drug prescription benefit, for millions of dollars in drugs that find their way to the black market.

Thanks to a very weak enforcement clause, light sentences, and the complicity of the for-profit insurance industry, Medicare's Part D drug program is being flagrantly abused, costed US taxpayers millions and helping flood the streets with high-grade and potent pharmaceuticals.

For most of us, evaluating a doctor’s prescribing habits is just about impossible. Even doctors themselves have little way of knowing whether their drug choices fall in line with those of their peers. However, a new online database culled from doctors who prescribe to Medicare patients is starting to shape the information and accountability of both physicians and Big Pharma.

New data show drug makers’ payments to hundreds of thousands of doctors, and some have made well over $500,000.