It seems that every day lately there are more and more stories flooding the news about prescription medication, patient treatment and national policy. There are so many that it’s often hard to keep track. Below you’ll find a few important articles I came across this week and my opinion to go with them.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed below are those of Mark Pew, Senior Vice President of Product Development and Marketing, and do not necessarily reflect Preferred Medical’s views.
Senate Passes Sweeping Legislation to Combat Opioid Epidemic
Earlier this week the Senate approved a package of 70 bills that were aimed at helping our nation overcome the increasingly deadly opioid epidemic. In 2017 alone, it is estimated that 72,000 American deaths were caused by overdose. Lawmakers have finally responded to the public to provide solutions to this crisis affecting our nation.
Some key points from the bill package include funding to require the FDA to administer prescription opioids in smaller quantities and offering a monetary incentive to the National Institute of Health to create non-addictive painkillers. Another notable part of the package includes a bill to increase security on shipments of fentanyl entering the us. Experts believe these measures should help decrease opioid addiction in the long run.
Mark’s thoughts:
ICYMI: Senate passes package of #opioid bills on Monday night, already working with House to reconcile “minor” differences. Note the vote — 99-1 — the definition of bipartisan.
The “Senate’s Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 (OCRA) directs funding to federal agencies to establish or expand programs dealing with prevention, treatment and recovery”
and will be reconciled to the House’s package of 58 individual bills passed on June 22. We will see how this plays out, but it’s certainly positive progress.
Nurse Self-Prescribes More Than 11,000 Pills
A former nurse from Nashville recently had her medical license revoked after using a doctor’s blank pre-signed prescription pad to write herself 104 prescriptions ranging from muscle relaxers to opioids during a three-year span. The nurse wrote herself prescriptions for hydrocodone and Soma which she states she was doing so to treat pain from a prior surgery and believes she did nothing wrong. Both of these drugs are highly addictive and can be easily resold to addicts.
Mark’s thoughts:
And this is why e-prescribing should be considered a standard practice to combat fraud and abuse/diversion. Or at least find better ways to secure the prescription pad. Some states require e-prescribing (here’s a map that shows progress). It’s obvious that some people will take advantage of access for profit (and ruin other people’s lives). Her scripts reportedly included “8,764 pills of hydrocodone and 2,880 pills of Soma, a muscle relaxer.” If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know I identify that as the “Vegas Cocktail” that isn’t really about analgesia or muscle spasms but about the heroin-type euphoria that comes from this combination. That’s why this combination has always been a red-flag for me.
My key takeaway: bad choices—or delayed good choices—often create long-term, unintended consequences.
To read everything on my mind this week, please visit me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/marks-musings-september-24-mark-rxprofessor-pew/.
Until next week,
