Physicians in Massachusetts will now be able to identify patients who "doctor shop" while struggling with an addiction. Last week, state health regulators unanimously approved the new system designed to stop "doctor shopping." The practice has fueled a surge in drug-related deaths in Massachusetts. The abuse of prescription pain medication has become a public health and legal nightmare in Massachusetts.
According to Alice Bonner, director of the state Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality, at least 9,000 people are believed to be "doctor shopping". Beginning in 2011, the new system will permit physicians and pharmacists to review an online database showing previous prescriptions patients had filled for prescription pain medications.
The new system has the potential to help doctors to determine which patients are genuinely suffering from pain and which are drug seeking to fuel their addiction.
"I’ll tell you, it’s tough to know when you’re prescribing opioids or any controlled substance for chronic pain whether you’re doing benefit or harm," said Dr. Daniel Alford, an addiction medicine specialist at Boston University School of Medicine. "The more tools we have to help us to know whether we’re benefitting or harming the patient, the better off we are."
In the past ten years, deaths attributed to substance abuse in Massachusetts rose to more than 600 a year. Massachusetts has had a prescription monitoring program since 1992, but it only covers one category of drugs including OxyContin, Percocet and morphine. Health providers do not have access to the information. When the Department of Public Health sees a worrisome pattern, it contacts doctors and often, law enforcement. This year reports on about 45 patients have been sent to 600 physicians and pharmacists in Massachusetts.
The new system will require pharmacists to notify the state when they fill prescriptions from a wider range of drugs including Vicodin and Darvon. The database will be updated weekly.
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