Florida’s new law has succeeded in putting some of the pill mills out of business. In the process, it has created a whole new set of problems for patients struggling with pain.
Florida is known to have approximately 1,000 pain clinics that supply prescription drugs up and down the East Coast. People travel long distances into the state to stand in lines that snake into parking lots of the clinics. Broward and Palm Beach counties have a combined 275 pain clinics.
The Florida Department of Health will begin inspections of these pain clinics this month. Many private clinics have closed their doors because they know they do not meet minimum state licensing requirements.
Tammy Cummings has avascular necrosis, a painful and debilitating disease that kills bone tissue. Cummings has an implanted device that delivers intravenous painkillers. She also needs additional medications to control her pain from the disease.
Cummings, 47, used to visit her physician in Boca Raton every three months. Under the new law, Cummings must see her physician once a month. The new law requires physicians to perform an exam every time they write a narcotic prescription for a patient. The prescription cannot be written for more than a 30 day supply.
"She has to go three times where she used to go once," said Drew Cummings, Tammy’s husband. "Medicare is getting billed three times the amount they used to [for doctor visits]. We’re paying three times as much as we used to. That’s a down side of the law. It’s a good law to go after the pill mills, but it needs modification."
Since the new law went into effect, more than 110 pain clinics have applied for licenses with the Department of Health.
