State GOP leaders question PIN Rx oversight

AUGUSTA – Senate Republican leaders on Monday questioned the governor’s role in overseeing operations at PIN Rx, the Penobscot Nation’s mail-order pharmacy.

The two ranking Republican state senators asked during a news conference at the State House why state agencies weren’t monitoring the Indian Island-based program more closely to make sure it is run legally and effectively.

The facility, which opened its doors more than a year ago, is believed to be under investigation for illegally filling more than 180,000 prescriptions.

Senate Minority Leader Carol Weston of Montville also submitted a state Freedom of Access law request to Gov. John Baldacci seeking public documents relating to PIN Rx.

“As legislators, one of our responsibilities is to ask the governor important questions on behalf of the people of Maine,” Weston said. “The people of Maine deserve a series of explanations.”

The questions posed by the Republican leaders never were presented directly to the governor, according to Baldacci’s press office.

A statement from Baldacci’s office said the details of any pending investigation by the state Pharmacy Board and the identity of anyone involved in any investigation are confidential under state law.

“The bottom line is it just would be irresponsible for us to talk about that,” Baldacci’s spokesman David Farmer said Monday.

The mail-order operation was established in 2005 with the help of Baldacci, a Democrat. The state helped the Penobscot Nation obtain grants to set up the company, which supplies drugs to clients of the state Medicaid program.

WMTW-TV has reported a complaint that PIN Rx was selling controlled substances through questionable Internet sites led to a Maine Board of Pharmacy investigation.

The television station reported that the state Attorney General’s Office later offered PIN Rx a consent agreement that includes an admission of wrongdoing, loss of license and a fine of $183,000. PIN Rx turned it down, saying there was no knowledge of wrongdoing.

“I think that we’re all trying to get, from a governmental standpoint, a handle on the whole situation,” Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis said in a telephone interview Monday. “The Penobscot Indian Nation and PIN Rx are two different things.”

The corporation and the tribe are under separate leadership.

“I’m not at liberty to speak for the corporation,” Francis said, but Penobscot Nation tribal government is assessing the situation.

“We will be responding as soon as we get all the information. It looks like everybody here acted responsibly and in good faith,” he said.

“Penobscot Nation would not tolerate any criminal behavior, and we don’t think any has occurred from anyone in our organization,” he said.

Assistant Senate Minority Leader Richard Rosen of Bucksport said the Republicans’ questions focus on the program’s oversight and whether it has generated savings as promised when it was launched.

But Weston also said the governor should tell when he first knew of an investigation, and when he was planning to tell people of the state.

Baldacci’s statement said that while the administration provided technical assistance so the program could obtain a federal grant, “the relationship between the state of Maine and PIN Rx does not include Internet prescriptions.”

The state’s Medicaid program, known as MaineCare, has entered into contracts with two mail-order providers, one of which is PIN Rx.

Baldacci said the contracts allow nearly 3,000 MaineCare recipients to order and refill their prescriptions through the mail, saving the state some $278,000 since July 1, 2006.

“MaineCare reviews all prescriptions for its recipients, including those filled by mail-order and retail pharmacies, before payment is made to ensure that only approved medications are dispensed,” the governor’s statement said.

BDN reporter Aimee Dolloff contributed to this report.