PDMP's: A discussion For and Against a State By State Monitoring Program
Sep 18, 2018 10:00:00 AM by Jody Lutz posted in Healthcare, PDMPs, Clinician Perspective, chronic pain, Pain Management, Clinical Tools, State Opioid Prescibing Guidelines, Opioid Prescribing Guidelines, prescriber compliance, opioid prescribing, clinical practice improvement activities, patient risk, opioid legislation, Healthcare Databases, controlled substances, electronic decisions support
Pharmacy Times reports that, "The first PDMP program was enacted by New York State in 1918 and was used to monitor prescriptions for cocaine, codeine, heroin, morphine, and opium. With this program, pharmacists were required to report copies of prescriptions to the health department within 24 hours."
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State Spotlight: Oklahoma is OK for Medical Marijuana
Sep 6, 2018 8:28:00 AM by Jody Lutz posted in chronic pain, State Opioid Prescibing Guidelines, regulations, opioid legislation
Oklahoma recently became the 30th state in the US to allow access to medical marijuana. The proposal, which passed by a 57% to 43% margin allows doctors to recommend cannabis for any medical condition they deem medically necessary. This makes Oklahoma's law one of the least restrictive in the country.
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Weekend Round Up: Healthcare Databases, Chronic Pain Patients Feel Caught in Debate and State Updates for Florida, and Connecticut
Jul 8, 2018 7:57:02 PM by Jody Lutz posted in Healthcare, Opioid Epidemic, Opioid Misuse, chronic pain, Integrated Pain, Opioid Therapy, Opioid Doses, Smarter Pain Management, Guidelines, Clinical Tools, State Opioid Prescibing Guidelines, Opioid Prescribing Guidelines, Chronic Pain Guidelines, prescriber compliance, regulations, compliance, opioid prescribing, opioid prescribing compliance, prescription drug monitoring, weekend round up, Medication Assisted Treatment Protocols, tapering, patient safety, Arizona, opioid legislation, opioid abuse, florida, Healthcare Databases, Connecticut, controlled substances
With opioid prescribing regulations being updated, national policy announcements, state guidelines as well as daily commentary regarding the opioid epidemic flooding news outlets, the AffirmHealth Weekend Round Up looks at the top headlines that caught our team’s eye. From controlled substance protocols to research focusing on pain management, addiction medicine, the ER and more provided to you in an easy to access summary. News you can use. Welcome to the Weekend Round Up.
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Michigan: Controlled Substance Legislation UPDATE
Jun 26, 2018 9:03:00 AM by Jody Lutz posted in PDMPs, Opioid Epidemic, chronic pain, Pain Management, Guidelines, Clinical Tools, prescriber compliance, opioid prescribing compliance, prescribing protocols, Medication Assisted Treatment Protocols, risk assessment, Treatment Agreements, Informed Consent, patient safety, Michigan, opioid legislation
In December of 2017, Michigan’s Lt. Governor Brian Calley signed a comprehensive 10-bill package to address Michigan’s opioid epidemic, substance abuse and drug diversion problems. The multi-faceted package addresses various education initiatives from school aged children to patient informed consent and also covers acute pain prescriptions, MAPS and a variety of other topics impacting the prescribing of controlled substances in Michigan.
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Weekend RoundUp: Ketamine Guidelines, Kentucky Sues Walgreens, SAMSHA Updates Opioid Toolkit and more
Jun 17, 2018 5:54:48 PM by Jody Lutz posted in Opioid Epidemic, Opioid Misuse, chronic pain, Opioid Therapy, Pain Management, Guidelines, weekend round up, patient safety, Kentucky, Ketamine
With opioid prescribing regulations being updated, national policy announcements, state guidelines as well as daily commentary regarding the opioid epidemic flooding news outlets, the AffirmHealth Weekend Round Up looks at the top headlines that caught our team’s eye. From controlled substance protocols to research focusing on pain management, addiction medicine, the ER and more provided to you in an easy to access summary. News you can use. Welcome to the Weekend Round Up.
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Opioid Tapering: Risks & Benefits from a Pain Management Leader
May 22, 2018 5:11:00 AM by Dr. John "Rett" Blake posted in chronic pain, Pain Management, opioid prescribing, tapering
Determining when to taper
We hear a lot about opioid tapering from multiple different sources these days. It is mentioned in CDC guidelines and we get it from insurance companies as well. It seems that the insurance companies are trying to force you to taper all of your patients off of opioids, but as clinicians we know that some patients benefit from them and need them to maintain quality of life. So, how do we know who should be tapered? For me, the answer lies in the balance between risks and benefits. When the risks of any medication outweigh the benefits, then we should stop it. These risks can also be applied to the community if a patient is diverting their opioids.
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Why Punish Chronic Pain Patients?
May 22, 2017 2:25:00 PM by Gerald Aronoff, MD posted in Clinician Perspective, Opioid Epidemic, chronic pain
After reviewing several articles regarding the controversy chronic pain patients are facing due to physicians changing policy in fear of the CDC Opioid Guidelines, I feel it necessary to address the seriousness of turning away legitimate chronic pain patients seeking medical care, because of the perceived stigma attached to opiates.
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Do I Need A Pain Specialist?
May 8, 2017 2:55:00 PM by Timothy Miller, MD posted in Interventional Pain Management, Clinician Perspective, chronic pain, Finding a Pain Specialist, Nashville, Tennessee
First, Let's Talk About My Pain.
Pain can be explained as either chronic or acute. Acute pain is described as pain that has just occurred after an injury such as surgery or trauma to our body. Acute pain will improve over time as our bodies heal from this injury or surgery.
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