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Thursday, November 13, 2014
Some Pain Specialists Ordering Costly, Unneeded Drug Tests for Elderly
November 11th, 2014/
Some pain specialists are ordering costly, unneeded drug tests for their elderly patients, in order to receive payment from Medicare, The Wall Street Journal reports. These doctors are testing for drugs rarely used by elderly patients, such as heroin, cocaine and PCP.
Doctors who treat pain are encouraged to test their patients to make sure they are not abusing their painkillers. Drug tests can also indicate if a patient is not taking their medication, and selling it instead. After Medicare cracked down on abuse billing for simple urine tests, some doctors switched to high-tech testing methods such as mass spectrometry. The billing for these tests are not limited, the article notes. The doctors bill Medicare separately for each substance tested.
Many experts say high-tech drug tests should only be used to confirm results from less expensive, low-tech drug tests.
Medicare spent $445 million for 22 high-tech drug tests in 2012, up 1,423 percent in five years, according to the newspaper. Spending included $14 million for PCP tests. Dozens of pain doctors receive more Medicare payments for drug testing than for treating patients.
Government data suggests use of illegal drugs among the elderly is rare. Even when marijuana is counted, only about one in 1,000 seniors abuse or are addicted to illicit drugs. In contrast, prescription drug abuse among the elderly is a real and growing concern, experts note.
Dozens of Websites Selling Illegal Drugs Shut Down
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November 11th, 2014
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Dozens of websites selling illegal drugs and guns were shut down by law enforcement authorities across the United States and Europe last week, The Wall Street Journal reports. One California man was arrested and charged with owning and operating Silk Road 2.0, one of the largest illegal online marketplaces.
Officials said they were able to pierce the anonymous shield offered by Tor, a network that uses encryption tools and thousands of servers to conceal online activity.
“As illegal activity online becomes more prevalent, criminals can no longer expect that they can hide in the shadows of the ‘dark web,’” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York said in a Department of Justice news release. “We shut down the original Silk Road website and now we have shut down its replacement, as well as multiple other ‘dark market’ sites allegedly offering all manner of illicit goods and services, from firearms to computer hacking. In coordination with domestic and international law enforcement agencies, we will continue to seize websites that promote illegal and harmful activities, and prosecute those who create and operate them.”
Silk Road 2.0 and other similar sites advertised goods and services including illegal narcotics, firearms, stolen credit card data and personal identification information, counterfeit currency, fake passports and other identification documents, and computer-hacking tools and services, according to the Justice Department. The sites accepted payments in the virtual currency known as bitcoin, which is designed to be anonymous.
Last year, the FBI shut down the website Silk Road, which sold illegal drugs. Six months later, a report found the site had reopened and sales had bounced back. The report, by the group Digital Citizens Alliance, found the new version of the site, Silk Road 2.0, had 13,648 listings as of April 2, just slightly more than the 13,000 listings before the arrest of Silk Road’s founder in the fall of 2013.
PRO-ACT Family Addiction Education Program helps families address drug and alcohol addiction
Next free sessions start week of Dec. 2 at various locations in five counties
When someone is addicted to drugs or alcohol, the disease affects the entire family. Each month PRO-ACT (Pennsylvania Recovery Organization–Achieving Community Together) hosts a free Family Addiction Education Program to help individuals and families recognize and address an addiction problem in a spouse, parent, child or other loved one. Led by trained volunteers who have been in the same situation, these information and support programs begin the first week of each month and run one evening a week for three consecutive weeks. Each session lasts two hours.
Programs are offered at several locations throughout the five-county southeast Pennsylvania region:
· Tuesdays—From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Media and Northeast Philadelphia.
· Wednesdays—From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Pottstown; from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in North Philadelphia; and from 7p.m.to 9 p.m. in West Chester.
· Thursdays—From 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Northern Liberties; 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Bristol and Colmar.
Sessions are free and confidential—first names only. Pre-registration is required. To register, call 800-221-6333, weekdays 9 a.m. through 5 p.m., or visit http://councilsepa.org/programs/pro-act/family-education-program/.
On Thursday November 13th at 7pm EST the Addict's Mom Live Video Meeting on In the Rooms www.intherooms.com Denise Krochta will be discussing how to have joyful holiday while loving an addict.
From Denise,
When the holidays and families ...events approach do you react with joy and anticipation or does fear, anxiety, and panic invade your whole being?
Many of us who have chaos and drama in our lives, due to mental illness, addiction, alcoholism, disease, can’t help but feel negatively about the holidays.
What is going to happen this time to disrupt our plans and peace? What will other people think when chaos occurs that they didn’t expect? Is it worth even participating in holiday and family events or should we just make excuses and stay at home?
Everyone should be able to enjoy their families and friends during special events and holidays no matter what chaos and drama surrounds them and no matter the choice of others. There are simple tools and strategies we can use to plan ahead.
Here are some questions to ask me.
Questions: What do the holidays with an addict mean to you? What has been your experience?
Can we plan ahead for the holidays so when (or if) chaos and drama takes over, we already have a plan and are not "jolted" with fear?
What things can we do, if we want to, for our addicts for the holidays so they feel loved but our other loved ones can feel loved and not neglected?
What do we do if we want to give gifts to everyone during the holidays and still be prudent and diplomatic?
Do we include our addicts in family gatherings? What are the possibilities and/or probabilities?
These are all questions we need to be able to answer ahead of time so we can enjoy our holidays. If we have a plan, decide who needs to be part of the plan, get everyone on the same page, and be 100% willing to implement the plan if necessary, joy and calm can be a possibility during holidays and family gatherings.
Denise
author/speaker/radio host
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Wednesday, November 12, 2014
November 12 Chp 103 v 3 TWELVE STEPPING WITH STRENGTH FROM THE PSALMS
He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
STEP 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Get Clean ! Commit step one and two ! It must be sincere or you will remain messed up . God has given you the steps and promises all you have to do is do it His way .This is how 99.9 percent of us have gotten sober . Once you realize you do not know it all and you cannot do this with out help then you will be well on your way to getting sober.
John 8:3 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
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