Washington (CNN)US pharmacies say there have been significant delays in delivering prescription drugs shipped via the US Postal Service since Postmaster General Louis DeJoy took over earlier this year, according to a new staff report from Senate Democrats.
The partisan report, conducted by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, found "significant and increasing" delays in the delivery of prescription drugs, based on information from "all four of the mail-order pharmacies that are heavily reliant on USPS for prescription drug deliveries."
According to the findings, which relied on answers from five major pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers that provide mail-order service, the pharmacies that are heavily reliant on USPS for delivery of mail-order drugs reported an increase in average delivery times, ranging from 18-32%, meaning "that deliveries that would typically take 2-3 days were instead taking 3-4 days."
The report notes that a representative of a pharmacy industry organization informed Warren and Casey that one of its members had observed delays in delivery times of 49% for USPS prescription deliveries. Only one of the respondents reported that they were "not experiencing any unusual delays in deliveries."
US Postal Service delays force Department of Veterans Affairs to shift prescription delivery methods
"The findings of this investigation ... reveal that in recent months there have been significant delays in USPS delivery of mail-order prescription drugs, potentially jeopardizing the health of millions of Americans and increasing costs and complications for mail-order pharmacy deliveries," the report reads.
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The Postal Service blamed recent service disruptions on the coronavirus pandemic in a statement to CNN, saying it's "aggressively" working to return to normal performance levels.
"We are aggressively working to ensure full service coverage across the network, including increasing hiring based on local needs and improving process flows," said Dave Partenheimer, a spokesman for the agency.
The report, which notes that the investigation was conducted in light of the changes DeJoy made this summer that caused widespread delays across the country, comes as the Democratic-led House continues to investigate the postmaster general over the changes.
Last month, DeJoy, a major donor to President Donald Trump, testified before the House Oversight Committee during a heated hearing, downplaying the changes he made and saying he was focused on stopping the Postal Service's money-losing ways.
In his testimony, DeJoy acknowledged that a "deterioration in service" had occurred following changes to mail trucks taking additional trips, but he said the USPS was already seeing a bounce-back. And he argued that other changes, like the removal of mail-processing machines, were already happening before he took over in June.
But Democrats have charged that the changes were deliberately made ahead of November to cause disruptions for the election, which will see an unprecedented number of mailed ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.
CNN reported last month that the Department of Veterans Affairs has been forced to find alternative ways to ship mail-order prescriptions for patients whose medication is delivered by the USPS, including FedEx and UPS amid the nationwide slowdown caused by the changes.
"The VA has now confirmed to us that the United States Postal Service (USPS), which is responsible for delivering about 90% of all VA mail order prescriptions, has indeed been delayed in delivering these critical medications by an average of almost 25% over the past year, with many locations experiencing much more significant delays," the group's national commander, the veterans group Disabled Vets of America, said in statement.
CNN's Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.
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