INVESTIGATION: Small Group of Oregon Doctors and Workers Prescribed Oxycodone 10,000+ times

Monday, May 04, 2015

One Physician Assistant in Medford, who has been previously disciplined by the Oregon Medical Board, prescribed Oxycodone more than 780 times under Medicare in just one year. 

Mary “Lorry” Huebner of Touchtone/Medford Pain Management prescribed 788 prescriptions and 26% more than the number two most prolific Oregon prescriber - Dr. Stuart Rosenblum of OAG Interventional Pain Consultants.

Oxycodone, morphine and opium are all highly regulated and highly addictive drugs — defined as Schedule Two drugs —  under the United States Substance Control Act.

Huebner prescribes 78 times more Schedule Two drugs than her peers, according to new data analyzed by GoLocalPDX and was developed by the non-profit, investigative news organization, ProPublica. The problem of misuse and over prescription of pain medications is massive. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls the over prescription of pain medicine an epidemic and Oregon may have the most serious problems in the country, according to one survey.

Whether Huebner’s prescribing is improper is unknown, but in 2008 the Oregon Medical Board took action against Huebner. According Oregon Medical Board's BOARD ACTION REPORT filed in October of that year., “Licensee (Huebner) entered into an Interim Stipulated Order with the Board on October 9, 2008. In this Order Licensee agreed to withdraw from practice pending the conclusion of the Board's investigation into her competency to practice medicine.”

Again in 2010, the Board unveiled that she had entered into a corrective Action Agreement, “HUEBNER, Mary Freericks, PA; PA00752 Medford, OR Licensee entered into a Corrective Action Agreement on April 8, 2010. In this Agreement, Licensee agreed to enroll in the Health Professionals Program. This Agreement is not a disciplinary action.”

According to the analysis of ProPublica, the retail value of the Huebner prescriptions is just under $500,000. 

Epidemic Says the CDC

First dubbed as a epidemic by the CDC in 2011, the problem has only increased. “Deaths from prescription painkillers have also quadrupled since 1999, killing more than 16,000 people in the U.S. in 2013. Nearly two million Americans, aged 12 or older, either abused or were dependent on opioids in 2013 (the most recent year of full data),” writes the CDC.

GoLocalPDX reviewed data collected by the non-profit, media watchdog group, ProPublica who has been collected and organizing federal data. The data collected by ProPublica and reviewed and categorized by GoLocalPDX comes from new federal reporting requirements impacting the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS).

A National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that Oregon leads the nation in abuse of prescription drugs. The survey found that 6.37% of Oregonians 12 years and older used painkillers for a non-medical purpose each year. The cost of hospitalizing overdoses was more than $31 million in 2012, according to a state report. This is just a small fraction of the total cost of emergency response, treatment and other significant private and taxpayer costs.  As more than one-in-four in Oregon is prescribed a opioids, the likelihood of these cost decreasing is low.

The top 25 prescribers reviewed by GoLocalPDX, have prescribed more than 10,000 prescriptions of Oxycodone alone.  Most overdoses involving narcotic pain relievers are caused by hydrocodone (Vicodin), methadone, oxycodone (OxyContin), and oxymorphone (Opana). 

The Biggest Prescribers - 30 Scripts a Day, 365 Days a Year

Huebner prescription numbers are eye catching, but she is not alone.  Huebner on average reportedly had 11 prescriptions (including refills) per patient, compared to a national average of 5. Moreover, for schedule Three Controlled Substances, 32% of Huebner’s 488 patients filled at least one prescription, compared to an average of 2%.

One physician made over 11,000 prescriptions in one year.  Dr. Harry Rinehart who practices in Wheeler Oregon issued 11,224 prescription and refills under medicare Part D.  He ranked 6th as the most prolific Oxycodone prescriber, but his 527 prescriptions are just a small fraction of his over scripts. On average, Rinehart prescribed 30.7 scripts per day for the entire 365 days of the year.  

This data comes from an analysis conducted by ProPublica.  ProPublica obtained prescribing data from Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, known as Part D, under the Freedom of Information Act. The data for 2012 includes more than 1.2 billion prescriptions written by nearly 1.5 million doctors, nurses and other providers. This database lists about 382,000 of those providers who wrote 50 or more prescriptions for at least one drug that year. Almost three-fourths went to patients 65 and older; the rest were for disabled patients.