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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe case involves whether workers\u2019 compensation insurers should be required to reimburse physicians who dispense medications to people injured on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Publix and the insurers say drugs should be dispensed at pharmacies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the issue might appear esoteric to the public, it has drawn interest from major insurance and medical groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Publix, which self-insures its huge workforce, and six insurance companies have been backed in the case by the Florida Insurance Council and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other side, the Florida Medical Association, the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association and the Florida Orthopaedic Society intervened to support the Florida Department of Financial Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Publix and the insurers went to the 1st District Court of Appeal in April after Administrative Law Judge Darren Schwartz upheld proposed rules issued by the Department of Financial Services, which oversees the workers\u2019 compensation system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposed rules, issued in December 2022 after more than two years of wrangling about the issue, said physicians and other types of health-care providers, such as physician assistants and advanced registered nurse practitioners, could dispense medications to workers\u2019 compensation patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While many physicians dispense medications to other types of patients, the workers\u2019 compensation system gives insurers power to authorize treatment for injured workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Publix and the insurers contend that the Department of Financial Services overstepped its legal authority in the proposed rules and that medications for workers\u2019 compensation patients can only be dispensed by pharmacies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA dispensing practitioner is neither pharmacy nor pharmacist,\u201d Publix and the insurers said in a July brief. \u201cTo conclude otherwise is to simply ignore the plain language of the statute, which is precisely what the department did by implementing the challenged rules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the department, in an August brief, disputed the arguments and cited a law that gives injured workers \u201cfree, full, and absolute choice in the selection of the pharmacy or pharmacist dispensing and filling prescriptions for medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, it said insurers would still have power to sign off on the doctors who treat injured workers and medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe rules do not change anything about the right of the employer\/carrier to choose the doctor who treats the injured worker or determine what treatment is authorized because the employer\/carrier still authorizes (or does not authorize) the medication,\u201d the department brief said. \u201cThe rules simply confirm for the purposes of billing and reimbursement that Florida law does not permit the employer\/carrier to interfere with an injured worker\u2019s right to choose where to obtain their medication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in August, the Florida Insurance Council and the American Property and Casualty Insurance Association contended that physician dispensing of medication can drive up costs and pose health risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCircumventing the checks provided by a pharmacist reviewing contraindications and\/or dosages removes a valuable safety net provided by pharmacies to injured workers,\u201d the insurance industry groups said. \u201cThere is an increased risk of adverse medical outcomes when a practitioner, who is typically not the injured worker\u2019s primary doctor, dispenses medication without a second check by a pharmacist for potential drug interactions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Florida Medical Association, the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association, the Florida Orthopaedic Society and another intervenor, Prescription Partners, LLC, argued in a brief that \u201cthere is no evidentiary basis for any finding\u201d by the appeals court on such issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, they said issues about cost and safety are policy decisions that should be made by the Legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe question of whether the physician-dispensing of medication is a wise policy decision is outside this court\u2019s authority in this proceeding, and must be taken before the Legislature, the branch of government tasked with making such policy decisions,\u201d the intervenors\u2019 brief said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A three-judge panel of the appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments Jan. 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The insurers in the case are Normandy Insurance Co., Zenith Insurance Co., Bridgefield Employers Insurance Co., Bridgefield Casualty Insurance Co., BusinessFirst Insurance Co. and RetailFirst Insurance Co.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By\u00a0Jim Saunders News Service of Florida, An appeals court this month will hear arguments in a long-running battle pitting the Publix supermarket chain and insurers against a state agency and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[7176],"class_list":["post-40627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-court-to-weigh-publix-drug-dispute"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}