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Pill Mill Bill Advances in the Legislature

April 27, 2011 | WMFE - The state Senate is continuing debate this week on a measure to crack down on rogue pain management clinics. Critics say most of the clinics are not legitimate medical practices but "pill mills." They say the storefront operations dispense large quantities of powerful pain medications on a cash-only basis to nearly anyone with only a perfunctory physical examination.


The House passed a bill late last week to set up a statewide database to track patients and prescriptions.
The Senate’s version would also implement a prescription database.

State Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff, a Republican from Ft. Lauderdale, argued for provisions in the bill to include due process and privacy protections. Bogdanoff said the bill may be overreaching if it allows the database to be searched without a warrant or clinic records to be seized without subpoenas.
“Nobody wants to shut them down more than I do. They are in my community by the hundreds.” Bogdanoff said “We want to shut them down but we also can’t forego our constitutional rights, our privacy rights in order to do this.”

The statewide prescription tracking database has the support of Attorney General Pam Bondi and most state law enforcement agencies. Gov. Rick Scott also supports the database although he  initially opposed it due to concerns over patient privacy, The bill is heading for a final hearing later this week.

 

 

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