Linden Care Corrects Express Scripts' Allegations
* Absolutely no pharmaceutical company has an ownership stake in Linden Care or has the option to acquire any ownership
WOODBURY, N.Y., Nov. 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Linden Care, LLC ("Linden Care" or the "Company"), a retail and specialty pharmacy focused on facilitating medication access and optimizing treatment outcomes for patients suffering from chronic pain, refutes all allegations from Express Scripts.
Linden Care is owned by BelHealth Investment Fund LP, a healthcare private equity fund, and Linden Care's founders, executive management team, employees and Board members. No pharmaceutical manufacturer owns any equity in Linden Care or has the option to acquire any ownership. As a pharmacy that dispenses several hundred different branded and generic medications, it is imperative that Linden Care remain independent. Linden Care dispenses medications for many drug manufacturers, including Horizon Pharma.
Linden Care serves patients in several categories of acute and chronic pain including: breakthrough cancer, chronic back, neuropathic and arthritic. Given that pain management drugs are prone to abuse, it is critical that pharmacies dispensing these medications are highly compliant and scrutinize the physicians prescribing and patients obtaining the medications. Most retail pharmacies are not equipped with the appropriate compliance personnel and security infrastructure to ensure that only legitimate patients and physicians are being served. Linden Care, with its best-in-class compliance department and vetting infrastructure, allows physicians to safely prescribe pain medications and reduces the prevalence of divergence.
Mark Bortnick, Founder and COO, stated, "Absolutely no pharmaceutical company has an ownership stake in Linden Care or has the option to acquire any ownership. We reached out to Express Scripts to resolve this issue so we can continue servicing our patients in dire need of their medications."
Express Scripts issued Linden Care a flawed network termination letter and below are Linden Care's corrections to the allegations.
| Allegation by Express Scripts |
Linden Care's Response |
| 1. Provider (Linden Care) has mailed hundreds of prescriptions into Maryland even though provider's license expired on 5/31/2014 |
1. Linden Care renewed its Maryland license on 5/22/2014 and it expires on 5/31/2016. A copy of the license was included in Linden Care's lawsuit against Express Scripts. |
| 2. Provider has mailed drugs into California. Provider does not have a license in California. |
2. Linden Care's California facility is licensed in California and services patients in California. Linden Care's New York facility has not mailed any prescriptions to patients residing in California other than incidental accommodations for patients on vacation or traveling to California. |
| 3. Provider is operating primarily as a mail order facility as opposed to a retail pharmacy. This contradicts representations made to Express Scripts during credentialing process. |
3. Linden Care is licensed as a retail pharmacy in New York and has adapted to provide a modern means of home delivery to serve patients nationally. Linden Care has been recredentialed by Express Scripts several times with the understanding that a significant portion of its business is delivering prescriptions to patients' homes. |
About Linden Care
Headquartered in Woodbury, NY, Linden Care is a leading provider of specialty pharmacy services to the pain management industry. The Company is licensed in all 50 states and serves patients and physicians in the highly regulated pain industry. With best-in-class compliance practices, Linden Care works closely with leading pain pharmaceutical manufacturers and pain management physicians to facilitate medication access and optimize treatment outcomes for patients suffering from chronic pain.
About BelHealth Investment Partners
BelHealth Investment Partners ("BelHealth"), based in New York, is a healthcare private equity firm focused on lower middle market companies. BelHealth has a unique combination of investing, executive management and entrepreneurial experience. BelHealth acquires majority positions in entrepreneur-owned companies that it believes would benefit from its extensive operating and private equity investment expertise. The firm typically invests $20-50 million per platform company across three healthcare segments: Services, Products and Distribution.
Contact:
Linden Care: Mark Bortnick (516) 221-7600 or [email protected]
SOURCE Linden Care, LLC
Share this article