Opiate Crackdown Planned in State of Washington

The rising financial costs involved in treating chronic pain has led to increasing confrontation between pain patients and government agencies attempting to crack down on abuse of pain medication.  With an estimated 116 million Americans suffering from pain problems as well as the billions of dollars spent each year due to lost productivity and medication costs relating to chronic pain, calls for tightened prescriptions on pain relievers such as Oxycontin, Vicodin, Methadone, and other opiates have faced stiff opposition.   Since the 1990s, physicians have been accused of overprescribing pain medications which now account for more than ten percent of all written prescriptions.   Due to lingering public suspicion concerning use of opiates for treating chronic non-cancer pain, many state medical boards have invoked disciplinary authority to discourage the prescribing of opiates for non-cancer pain due to concerns about efficacy, toxicity, and addiction.

As a reaction to a rash of high-profile cases involving pain prescription overdoses as well as the increased availability of pain medications being made available as street drugs,  Washington's State Legislature has ordered the Department of Health to crack down on prescribing practices.  Beginning in January of this year, physicians who prescribe opiates for chronic, non-cancer, pain will be required to maintain health histories for all patients requesting pain medication.  These histories will need to include information on patient psychiatric conditions, history of addictions, "risk of significant adverse events" (such as potential injuries), and "the effect of pain on physical and psychological function".    Consultation with pain specialists when prescription exceed set thresholds are also mandatory under the new legislation.   The most important aspect of the new legislation involves the creation of a computerized central database which, beginning in January 2012, will be used to identify patients who are "prescription-shopping" pain medications at multiple clinics.

While physicians acknowledge the need for monitoring pain prescriptions, concerns have been raised about the intensified record-keeping required as well as the possiblity of increased liability in the event of patient overdoses.   Both the Washington State Medical Association and the Washington Academy of Family Physicians have formally protested the "increased administrative burdens" of the new legislation.  Patient groups have also expressed concern over the possibility that increased vigilance regarding over-prescribing pain medications may lead to pain patients being undertreated for legitimate pain conditions.   They are also concerned that family physicians may avoid taking on chronic pain patients to eliminate the administrative headaches involved.  While physicians will be able to use the proposed central database to identify drug-seekers among their patients,  critics have questioned the potential value of the database in preventing overdoses and whether chronic pain patients with severe pain will be unfairly flagged as "drug seekers".

As the demand for  better pain treatment grows across the United States,  policies such as the one planned in Washington state will likely become more common.  Whether the "baby is thrown out with the bathwater" as many critics argue remains to be seen. 

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Comments

[Drug treatment]

That's so right! It's even scary for me to get to an emergency room one day because tey will give you heavy painkillers like these. So unsustainable!

[Jess]

Its good to know that Washighton State is now getting stricter in the administration of pain killers, hopefully this will lead to more stringent policies on other prescription drugs that causes addiction.