• The unit failed to comply with federal government and Department of Defense guidelines.
• The unit’s pharmaceutical management practices ineffectively used DoD funds.
• The unit spent $46,500 on Ambien and $98,000 on Provigil.

A Pentagon report released on Jan. 8 reveals that during the Trump administration, the White House Medical Unit provided prescription drugs, including controlled substances, to ineligible staff and spent tens of thousands of dollars more on brand-name drugs than what generic equivalents would have cost.

The unit, part of the White House Military Office, failed to comply with federal government and Department of Defense guidelines, violating federal law by providing ineligible staffers with free specialty care and surgery at military medical facilities and supplying them with prescription drugs, including controlled substances.

“The White House Medical Unit’s pharmaceutical management practices ineffectively used DoD funds by obtaining brand-name medications instead of generic equivalents and increased the risk for the diversion of controlled substances,” it said.

The report, issued by the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General and covering the period from September 2019 through February 2020, following a complaint received in 2018, found that the unit lacked effective controls to ensure compliance with safety standards, was not subject to oversight by Military Health System leaders, and increased the risk to patient health and safety.

During 2017-2019, the unit spent $46,500 on 8,900 unit doses of Ambien, a brand name sleeping medication—174 times more than the $270 cost of the generic equivalent for the same amount of doses. Additionally, it spent $98,000 on 4,180 unit doses of Provigil, a brand name stimulant—55 times more than the $1,800 cost of the generic equivalent. Both drugs were dispensed without verifying patient identities.

The report, covering the presidential administrations of both Barack Obama and Donald Trump, but focusing on 2017-2019, when Trump was president, presents findings in response to a complaint received in 2018. In response to the report’s findings, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, Lester Martinez-Lopez, sent a memo to the Inspector General concurring with all its recommendations.

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