SPRINGFIELD — Twelve Missouri hospitals filed a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors for the costs they incurred while treating opioid-addicted patients that were not reimbursed.
Greg Aleshire, an attorney with Aleshire, Robb & Rapp in Springfield said while the case was filed in April, it has nothing to do with the current COVID-19 pandemic.
"It just happened to be the timing of when everything was prepared and ready," Aleshire said in an interview with the St. Louis Record. "It just happened to coincide with COVID-19."
The lawsuit involves damages the hospitals suffered over an eight-year time period when opioid manufacturers and distributors flooded the state with what amounted to 362 opioid doses for every person in the state.
"This is specifically for the hospitals that are seeking damages for all their unreimbursed costs that resulted from the opioid epidemic," Aleshire said. "To give you a basic example, if someone comes in and they are opioid-dependent and they need a surgery, they may require more anesthesia or they may require an additional stay in the hospital."
Aleshire said those items are not typically reimbursed by insurance, Medicare or other payers.
"It resulted in tremendous losses for hospitals," Aleshire said.
Aleshire said due to the coronavirus, some of the defendants in the case still haven't been served.
"It’s going to take a while," Aleshire said. "We still have to get all the defendants served. With COVID-19, there are a lot of sheriff’s offices that will not perform personal services and we have to take a different track."
Aleshire said that slows things down.
"Right now it has just been filed and we still have to get them served and then there will probably be some hearings on motions, but that’s a while off—probably 60 to 90 days," Aleshire said.
The lawsuit was filed in Greene County Circuit Court. Aleshire said it is a separate action from the 2017 lawsuit filed by the state Attorney General against several opioid manufactures and distributors.