PDMP & Opioid Abuse News

PDMP & Opioid Abuse News
- St Joes program will help tackle alcohol and drug abuse in young people 05 Mar 2021 12:20 The Bay Observer × Thank you! For more than a dozen years the Bay Observer has been providing a fresh perspective on the important local events and issues that face our communities. Coverage of local news has never been more important in our democratic society as the …
- Sheriff: Humboldt County corrections officer suspected of selling meth, opioids to inmates 05 Mar 2021 08:26 Times Standard Humboldt County corrections deputy Ricardo Tranquilino Aguirre, 27, was arrested on Tuesday for smuggling drugs into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility. Aguirre was taken into custody inside the correctional facility for “being in possession of a …
- Doctor who prescribed ‘massive quantities of opioids’ charged with murder 05 Mar 2021 00:51 Daily Dodge DNY59/iStockBy AARON KATERSKY, ABC News (NEW YORK) — In the first case of its kind in New York, a Long Island doctor has been charged with murder for prescription practices that led to the deaths of five patients between 2016 and 2018. Dr. George …
- New State Campaign Launches To Fight Opioid Abuse 04 Mar 2021 15:46 WSJM - Michigan The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has launched a new campaign to help those who are struggling with substance abuse during the pandemic. Spokesperson Lynn Sutfin tells WSJM News there will be ads to talk to people about opioids and …
- Feds to Spend $3.5 Million on ‘Vending Machines’ That Supply Opioids in 4 Cities 04 Mar 2021 12:08 The Epoch Times A man walks past a mural by street artist Smokey D. about the fentanyl and opioid overdose crisis in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, on Dec. 22, 2016. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press) The Liberal government has announced $3.5 million …
- Dogs sickened after ingesting opioids, marijuana at park in San Francisco 04 Mar 2021 04:10 KHBS/KHOG 40/29 ABC A KGO-TV report has found that in recent weeks multiple puppies in San Francisco were hospitalized after ingesting marijuana, opioids and other drugs found at Lafayette Park.Fortunately, they’ve all recovered — but it poses a question of how residuals of …
- Canadian government invests $3.5 million towards a safer supply of opioids 03 Mar 2021 23:22 Radio Canada InternationaI MySafe Verified Identity Dispensers are shown in this undated handout photo. The federal government has provided nearly $5.6 million in funding for five "vending machines" that will dispense medical-grade opioids in British Columbia, Ontario and …
- Woman who lost brother to opioids relieved police to carry naloxone but wonders what changed? 03 Mar 2021 16:47 CBC/Radio-Canada Candice McCowin's brother Graeme McLean died of an opioid overdose three years ago. For three years she's been among advocates calling for Windsor police to carry naloxone. For three years she's felt ignored. Now, with news hundreds of …
- Spike in alcohol and drug abuse calls in Blair County 03 Mar 2021 02:39 WTAJ - Pennsylvania BLAIR COUNTY, Pa (WTAJ) — The executive director for AMED said there’s been a spike in alcohol and drug abuse calls. He said they are up around 17% since the pandemic started. They’re noticing this number in middle-aged people and he said the types of …
- Awareness programme on Prevention of Substance and Drug abuse held 03 Mar 2021 01:04 E-Pao
Follow Prescription Advisory
What prescribers can do to safely and effectively use opioids for CNCP (includes the following)
- Screen for prior or current substance abuse/misuse
- Do not use concomitant sedative–hypnotics or benzodiazepines
- Track daily MED using an online dosing calculator
- Use the state Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to monitor all sources of controlled substances
PDMPs have many limitations in their current format, including complex access issues, timeliness, and whether the data are presented to the physician automatically or require physician effort to retrieve.
The AAOS recommends the following tools, which have been shown to significantly reduce medication errors:
- computerized physician order entry
- computerized decision support systems
- computerized monitoring of adverse drug events
- pharmacist-assisted rounds
- high-risk drug protocols
Overdose deaths are “just the tip of the iceberg”: that for every death there are many more hospital treatment admissions, emergency room visits, people who abuse or are dependent on prescription drugs and nonmedical users.
Prescribing or dispensing to an abuser, diverter, misuser or ‘doctor shopper’ puts the provider, their practice and or institution, as well as the patients at high risk.
Although relieving pain and reducing suffering are primary emergency physician responsibilities, there is a concurrent duty to limit the personal and societal harm that can result from prescription drug misuse and abuse.
When a clinician is prescribing a controlled substance, readily available information about the drugs that a patient is receiving from other providers can be a critically important component of the decision-making process…Increasingly, these [PDMP] programs have evolved into a useful tool for the clinician who must incorporate careful risk management into the prescribing of opioid analgesics or any other controlled substance.
Increasingly, these programs have evolved into a useful tool for the clinician who must incorporate careful risk management into the prescribing of opioid analgesics or any other controlled substance Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs Serve a Vital Clinical Need.
In 2012, both New York and Tennessee required prescribers to check their state’s PDMP before prescribing painkillers.
The results one year later:
New York realized a 75% drop and Tennessee a 36% drop in patients who were seeing multiple prescribers to obtain the same drugs.
Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are now active in most states to assist clinicians in identifying potential controlled drug misuse, diversion, or excessive prescribing. Little is still known about the ways in which they are incorporated into workflow and clinical decision making, what barriers continue to exist, and how clinicians are sharing PDMP results with their patients.
Design
Qualitative data were collected through online focus groups and telephone interviews.Setting
Clinicians from pain management, emergency and family medicine, psychiatry/behavioral health, rehabilitation medicine, internal medicine and dentistry participated.Patients
Thirty-five clinicians from nine states participated.Methods
We conducted two online focus groups and seven telephone interviews. A multidisciplinary team then used a grounded theory approach coupled with an immersion–crystallization strategy for identifying key themes in the resulting transcripts.Results
Some participants, mainly from pain clinics, reported checking the PDMP with every patient, every time. Others checked only for new patients, for new opioid prescriptions, or for patients for whom they suspected abuse. Participants described varied approaches to sharing PDMP information with patients, including openly discussing potential addiction or safety concerns, avoiding discussion altogether, and approaching discussion confrontationally. Participants described patient anger or denial as a common response and noted the role of patient satisfaction surveys as an influence on prescribing.Conclusion
Routines for accessing PDMP data and how clinicians respond to it vary widely. As PDMP use becomes more widespread, it will be important to understand what approaches are most effective for identifying and addressing unsafe medication use.
You’re not only reducing the supply [of pain medications] for those who use them inappropriately, but also for those in need.
Always check the medical record… and a prescription drug monitoring database.
Although relieving pain and reducing suffering are primary emergency physician responsibilities, there is a concurrent duty to limit the personal and societal harm that can result from prescription drug misuse and abuse.
Always check the medical record… and a prescription drug monitoring database.
Prescribing or dispensing to an abuser, diverter, misuser or ‘doctor shopper’ puts the provider, their practice and or institution, as well as the patients at high risk.
Although relieving pain and reducing suffering are primary emergency physician responsibilities, there is a concurrent duty to limit the personal and societal harm that can result from prescription drug misuse and abuse.
An improved PDMP … with accurate and timely data analysis should be regarded as the cornerstone of our collective efforts to address prescription drug abuse.
Attention to patterns of prescription requests and the prescribing of opioids as part of an ongoing relationship between a patient and a healthcare provider can decrease the risk of diversion. Periodic review of state PDMP, where available, is also a useful tool to monitor compliance. Evaluation should initially include…a drug history… Documentation is essential.
A study was conducted to estimate the societal costs of prescription opioid abuse, dependence, and misuse in the United States. Costs were grouped into three categories: health care, workplace, and criminal justice.
The results: Total US societal costs of prescription opioid abuse were estimated at $55.7 billion in 2007 (USD in 2009). Workplace costs accounted for $25.6 billion, health care costs accounted for $25.0 billion, and criminal justice costs accounted for $5.1 billion. Workplace costs were driven by lost earnings from premature death ($11.2 billion) and reduced compensation/lost employment ($7.9 billion).
Conclusions: The costs of prescription opioid abuse represent a substantial and growing economic burden for the society. The increasing prevalence of abuse suggests an even greater societal burden in the future.
Thirteen multi-state PDMP projects were sponsored in 2012-13. While providers indicated that PDMPs gave them more confidence for prescribing pain medication, the study concluded that the easier the data is to obtain, the more they will be used, and the safer the practice can be.
What prescribers can do to safely and effectively use opioids for CNCP (includes the following)
- Screen for prior or current substance abuse/misuse
- Do not use concomitant sedative–hypnotics or benzodiazepines
- Track daily MED using an online dosing calculator
- Use the state Prescription Drug Monitoring Program to monitor all sources of controlled substances
PDMPs have many limitations in their current format, including complex access issues, timeliness, and whether the data are presented to the physician automatically or require physician effort to retrieve.
You’re not only reducing the supply [of pain medications] for those who use them inappropriately, but also for those in need.
When a clinician is prescribing a controlled substance, readily available information about the drugs that a patient is receiving from other providers can be a critically important component of the decision-making process…Increasingly, these [PDMP] programs have evolved into a useful tool for the clinician who must incorporate careful risk management into the prescribing of opioid analgesics or any other controlled substance.
Increasingly, these programs have evolved into a useful tool for the clinician who must incorporate careful risk management into the prescribing of opioid analgesics or any other controlled substance Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs Serve a Vital Clinical Need.