Governor putting in place new pill limits
In the latest attempt to slow Ohio’s drug-abuse epidemic, the state will clamp down on Ohio doctors’ ability to prescribe narcotic painkillers to seven days for adults and five days for minors.
The new prescribing restrictions, which have the
force of law, apply to acute-pain patients but not chronic-pain patients, and could potentially reduce the number of addictive pain pills dispensed statewide by 109 million annually. The rules are expected to take effect this summer.
Medical personnel who don’t follow the new restrictions face losing their license to practice, Gov. John Kasich said Thursday at a Statehouse news conference in which the restrictions were unveiled.
“You are going to have to abide by these rules or else you’re in serious trouble, whether you’re a doctor, a dentist or a nurse,” he said.
Kasich said the prescribing rules are part of Ohio’s multifaceted approach to fighting a deadly scourge of drug abuse, which took a national high of 3,050 lives in Ohio in 2015.
“We’re paying the price now for a lot of the neglect we had in the past,” he said.
The rules received strong support at the news conference packed with state officials, legislators and organization leaders.
But public opinion is something else. More than 100 people commented on a Dispatch. com story about the crackdown; a majority opposed new pill restrictions.
“Just awful to make those who truly need it jump through hoops to get their medicine because some people abuse it,” said Cari Henderson. “They clamp down on the family docs so hard now that most have to go to pain management docs of which there is already a shortage and a 30-day wait to see.”
Timothy Ragland said, “What about those who truly need pain medication? Are they to just suffer? This isn’t an inconvenience, this is cruel.”
“This will send the street price through the roof and force actual people suffering to buy heroin or pills off the street,” commented Alex Mayer. “So stupid.”
Prescriptions now can be written for 30 to 90 days of painkillers.
Dr. Robyn F. Chatman, president of the Ohio State Medical Association, said Kasich’s pill limits “are reasonable expectations that still allow for physicians to use their best clinical judgment for properly treating a patient and, when appropriate, sets up a process to exceed the limits if it is in the best interest of the patient.”
Dr. Mark Hurst, medical director of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said doctors will have flexibility to exceed the rules if they provide documented reasoning.
But Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit research group backed by labor and others, said Ohioans desperately need drug treatment. “If Ohio is serious about combating the growing drug epidemic and saving lives, these programs need dedicated state resources from the general revenue fund.”
In addition to the pill limits, the new rules will require doctors to provide a specific diagnosis or procedure code on every prescription written for a controlled substance. The limits apply to acute pain, such as after surgery, dental work, broken bones, sprains and other ailments that heal. They will not apply to cancer patients, palliative and hospice care and medication-assisted treatment for people dealing with addictions.
The rules will be enacted by the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, the State Medical Board, the Dental Board and the Board of Nursing.
Kasich’s announcement came a day after Republican lawmakers proposed legislation to require doctors to follow federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines limiting acute-pain prescriptions to three days, or up to seven days if the doctor goes through training in alternatives and offers treatment options.
House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, promised to forge a “partnership between the legislature and the governor” on the subject. “At the end of the day, it’s about the families of the state of Ohio,” he said.
In a related development in Washington, U.S. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced the Prescription Drug Monitoring Act to require creation of prescription-drug monitoring programs in states that receive federal money to combat opioid abuse.