Timeliness of United Healthcare's Drug Recall Notices

[eb4220]

On March 19, 2019 I received a Drug Recall Notice from United Healthcare's Vice President for Clinical Services, Bradford S. Curtis, MD.

The Recall Date on the notices was February 25, 2019 and Dr. Curtis' Drug Recall Notice was dated March 12, 2019.

AARP members who purchase their Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan from United Healthcare receive at 1, if not more, e-Mails a month from UHC. E-Mail is electronic mail.

How many of UHC's Part D subscribers were needlessly endangered by Dr. Curtis' failure to notify UHC's Part D insureds of drug recalls using e-Mail?

Please write to John Prince, Chief Executive Officer of OptumRx, and ask him why he is allowing his UHC's Medicare Part D insureds to be recklessly endangered by failing to use electronic mail or e-Mail to notify an insured when one of their prescription drugs is the subject of a drug recall notice.

Don't even think about using the excuse that not all of UHC's Medicare Part D insureds have e-Mail. A simple program modification will allow snail mail to be sent only to those insureds without e-Mail. It is inexcusable that this has not been done.

It appears to me and probably many others that United Healthcare does not take the threat of GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE nor administrative costs seriously. I receive several communications each month via the US Mail about both my Medicare Part D and Part F insurance coverages. Most, if not all of these communications could be sent to their insureds using electronic mail and those without e-Mail will receive the communication via the US Mail.

This will reduce administrative costs by at least 20 cents per communication for each of the 10.1 million UHC Medicare Advantage1 insureds and millions of UHC Medicare supplemental plan insureds (including Plan D).

We need those trees to soak up carbon even it's only 1 and UHC's unnecessary use of paper is unforgivable.

1 https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/a-dozen-facts-about-medicare-advantage/

[GailL1]

@eb4220 

Actually, I don't think that the insurers nor even pharmacist HAVE to inform you, the consumer,  of a drug recall.  Their duty is to not sell anymore of it.  The recall is actually at the drug sales point - the pharmacy, of whatever type..  A drug recall is not a fast process - the drug maybe recalled by the FDA or the manufacturer since drugs are pretty much constantly monitored, just in case.  They are manufactured just like other thing which we partake and there is always the chance that something goes arye in the manufacturing process outside of the actual drug making.  It could be from the actual compound or a filler additive or even somehting that was not suppose to be included or a bad batch of whatever, it could be mislabeled.

Many times in the beginning, a person may hear of the problem on the news rather than some advice sent to them - by snail mail, email or some other way.

Med D insurer plans have certain things that by law they have to report to their clients on a stated time frame.  In order to have informtion transmitted to a client, they have to have an opt-in selection made by the client.  Many seniors still rely on paper material for information - it is getting better but still many aren't that connected or don't want that kind of communication.