Claimants' Lawyer Takes Fight Against Formulary Bill to the Internet

Tuesday, June 6, 2017 | 0

A Philadelphia claimants’ attorney is organizing opposition to a proposed bill that would create a nationally recognized, evidence-based formulary for the state workers' compensation system.

Online ads by a group called Pa. Works Now, funded by Samuel Pond at Pond Helocky Stern Giordano, say House Bill 18 “threatens the ability for workers to receive the care they need to get better and take care of their families,” The Morning Call reported Monday.

Pond’s law firm also owns its own pharmacy, Workers First Pharmacy, a national mail delivery pharmacy that serves as a counter to “insurance companies’ wanton and capricious denial of medical care to people who are recovering from injuries sustained while on the job,” Pond told the Allentown newspaper.

HB 18, which has languished in the Labor and Industry Committee for nearly four months without a vote, is sponsored by Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh. It aims to address the opioid crisis by introducing a formulary while capping the duration of treatment and dosage amounts.

“If you are going to advocate on behalf of, or be opposed to, legislation, you should at least let people know who you (are) and if you are doing something in your direct self-interest," Mackenzie said of Pond to the newspaper. “And, in this case, he has a direct personal financial interest and that is why he is opposing the legislation so strongly.”

Pond countered that criticism of his pharmacy ownership is a “smokescreen” to hide a “diabolical” effort to leverage the opioid crisis and push a pro-insurance agenda.

Pennsylvania had the third highest dosage amount among 25 states studied by the Workers Compensation Research Institute.

“Pennsylvania also had an unusually higher amount of opioids per claim of 2,860 milligrams, which was 78% higher than the median state,” the report states, adding that the amount of opioids used by the average injured worker in Louisiana, New York and Pennsylvania “is striking.”

A June 2014 WCRI study of 23 states found that Pennsylvania could reduce its prescription drug costs by 22% if it adopted a Texas-style formulary and saw similar physician behavioral adjustments.