Tennessee shuts pharmacy, disciplines others over pain pills
The Tennessee Board of Pharmacy has suspended the license of a Smyrna drugstore by emergency order after investigators discovered thousands of doses of opioids missing.
Corder’s Community Pharmacy Inc. was shut down July 7, according to a board order released Thursday. The action came after law enforcement filed a complaint against the drugstore.
The Murfreesboro Pain Management Clinic also surrendered its license as the result of another state investigation. And a doctor and pharmacist were put on probation for prescribing drugs to a friend or family member without proper documentation.
The actions are part of a continuing crackdown by state licensing boards aimed at curbing addictions to prescription medicines. One out of every 20 people pops a pain pill for recreational use in Tennessee, where drug overdose deaths have jumped 220 percent from 1999 to 2012 and babies born dependent on drugs rose tenfold over the past decade.
Investigators for the Board of Pharmacy found that Corder’s was short 5,841 of the 8,000 hydrocodone pills it had received from its wholesaler since January. Records showed it had dispensed 1,418 pills, but Corder’s had only 741 on hand.
Corder’s was short 410 of 1,800 alprazolam pills. Investigators found smaller shortages of oxycodone pills.
The May 29 inspection revealed numerous record-keeping violations. About a month later, police in Smyrna responded to a burglar alarm at Corder’s when hydrocodone was reported missing. Records kept at the pharmacy hampered an audit after the burglary, according to the order. Investigators had to rely on hard copies of prescriptions instead of the required records.
Retiree listed as clinic owner
Murfreesboro Pain Management Clinic voluntarily surrendered its license after the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners found multiple violations. The clinic listed 86-year-old Dr. Daniel Hamaty as its owner when it was actually owned by Michael Lewis, who would pick up Hamaty from his home in a retirement community in Signal Mountain and drive him to the clinic two days a week, according to the order.
The clinic operated on a “cash only” basis, charging $500 for initial visits and $400 for follow-up appointments. It had no hand-washing stations, and there was a restroom outside the building where urine screens were collected and patients were unescorted during screenings, according to the order.
The clinic had applied for and received a certificate to operate in December 2012 based upon Hamaty being the sole owner of the clinic. Hamaty has permanently retired his medical license.
In an unrelated action, the Board of Pharmacy put Richard H. Maynard, a Mt. Juliet pharmacist, on one year’s probation for dispensing more hydrocodone to his mother than a physician had prescribed.
In another unrelated action, the Board of Medical Examiners put the license of Nashville doctor Michael C. Reed on probation for five years after he continued to prescribe stimulants, pain pills and sleep aids to a former patient with whom he “had an intermittent, personal relationship.”
Reach Tom Wilemon at 615-726-5961 and on Twitter @TomWilemon.
The toll of prescription drug abuse in Tennessee
• 69,100 people addicted to prescription drugs
• 204 convicted of doctor shopping last year
• 22,714 incidents of child abuse because of drug exposure last year
• 736 babies born addicted in 2012
• 60,065 drug-related crimes reported in 2012
Source: Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration
COMING UP SHORT
Pills that investigators found to be missing at Corder’s Community Pharmacy Inc.:
» Shortage of 5,841 of the 8,000 hydrocodone pills
» Shortage of 410 of 1,800 alprazolam pills
» Investigators found smaller shortages of oxycodone pills.