CVS
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Florida pain management doctor and his clinic are suing CVS, claiming the retail pharmacy chain refuses to fill any medically necessary prescriptions written by him.
Plaintiffs Dr. Roderick Beaman and Omega Health & Wellness, located in Duval County, filed their complaint against CVS in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division.
They are suing CVS for tortious interference with a business relationship, defamation per se, and injunctive relief.
According to their 20-page verified complaint, CVS initially contacted Beaman in April 2023 via telephone and asked him some general questions about his practice and prescribing practices, but never told him he was suspected of anything or that any of his prescriptions were “problematic.”
About a month later, CVS sent Beaman a letter from its corporate office stating it was informing its local pharmacists in the region to stop filling prescriptions Beaman had written.
“Other than a cursory telephone conversation which occurred on or about April 13, 2023, regarding Dr. Beaman’s practice and general prescribing patterns, CVS has not provided any specific grounds or reasons for its actions of instructing its local pharmacists in the Middle District of Florida to stop filling prescriptions that Dr. Beaman has written for patients,” the filing states.
In December 2024, Beaman claims he applied for removal of the corporate pharmacy exclusion and engaged in a telephone conference with CVS in March 2025 regarding his request.
But again, the doctor contends CVS “failed to conduct a meaningful investigation, as the conversation consisted only of general prescribing questions.”
“During the call, the CVS representative did not identify any specific patient prescriptions alleged to lack medical necessity or otherwise considered problematic,” the complaint states.
In April 2025, Beaman claims he received a letter from CVS denying his request. CVS, he argues, did not request any individual patient information or medical records before reaching the decision – something he offered up.
“The prescriptions written by Dr. Beaman for his patients are medically necessary and fully comply with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations governing the prescribing of controlled substances,” the filing states. “To date, CVS has provided no evidence or documentation to suggest otherwise.”
Beaman argues CVS’s refusal to fill his prescriptions will force patients to leave Omega Health to seek care elsewhere.
On top of that, patients may face “significant difficulty” obtaining necessary treatment, as Beaman contends there is a shortage of licensed pain management physicians in the region.
“Patients are currently being harmed as CVS interferes with their patient care,” the complaint states.
“These actions unfairly, improperly, and unnecessarily impose a burdensome and harmful dilemma on patients.”
Beaman contends under Florida law, a corporate pharmacy such as CVS cannot lawfully impose a blanket exclusion on all prescriptions written by him. The law requires an “individualized, prescription-specific determination of validity” based on a pharmacist’s independent professional judgment, he argues in his complaint.
“Pharmacists may decline to fill an individual prescription when a specific, articulable concern exists regarding its legitimacy,” the filing states. “However, both Florida and federal law do not permit a corporate directive that prohibits pharmacists from exercising individualized licensed professional judgment based solely on the identity of the prescriber.”
According to the complaint, since the CVS exclusion, Omega Health has lost about one-third of its patient population and risks “more financial and operational collapse with each passing day.”
Beaman argues that injunctive relief is necessary to prevent “permanent patient harm.”
In his complaint, Beaman asks the federal court to enjoin CVS from issuing an order to all of its pharmacists to refuse his prescriptions and to award the plaintiffs all of their costs, including attorney’s fees.
Nashville attorney Meggan B. Sullivan is representing the plaintiffs in the action.
