LEWISTON, Maine — Need a prescription for pain pills?
You may be asked to pee in a cup.
In an effort to combat Maine’s high rate of prescription drug addiction, doctors are asking patients to sign a controlled-substances agreement that, in part, allows the doctor to ask for a blood or urine sample at any time to ensure patients are taking their pills, rather than selling them, and are taking those pills only.
Patients who don’t sign likely won’t get prescriptions. And those who fail the test will have some explaining to do.
“Everybody is under pressure to have policies that do everything they can to tighten up the prescribing of opiates,” said Gordon Smith, executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association.
Maine has had a prescription drug problem for years. The state has the highest per-capita rate of opiate addiction in the nation, and more Mainers are seeking treatment for painkillers than for alcohol. The number of babies born with opiate withdrawal symptoms has skyrocketed. And this week Maine had its 50th pharmacy robbery of 2012, a crime that experts say is directly tied to prescription drug addiction. Maine had half that number of robberies in 2011; not long ago it had none.
State leaders and doctors have tried to do something about prescription drug abuse. Most recently, the state created the Prescription Monitoring Program, an electronic database that tracks every patient receiving a controlled substance prescription in Maine. Once a week, pharmacists upload into the system the names of patients getting controlled drugs. Doctors then can go into the database and see whether their patients have more prescriptions from more doctors than they should.
The state also has created a task force to address prescription drug abuse, and MaineCare is working to limit the number of painkiller prescriptions Medicaid patients can get.
The Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine and the Maine Board of Osteopathic Licensure took on the issue of prescription drug abuse as far back as the late 1990s. They created guidelines covering what was expected of their doctors when they wrote prescriptions for controlled substances.
In 2010, the boards reviewed and strengthened those guidelines, and three more licensing boards — for dentists, nurses and podiatrists — signed on. Since then, more medical practices and hospitals have followed that guidance.
The guidelines recommend, in part, that doctors create a controlled substances contract or agreement with their patients at high risk for substance abuse or with a history of addiction. The guidelines provide no template for such a contract, but they do suggest including 14 terms, such as:
* The doctor may call the police if illegal activity is suspected.
* The doctor’s office may ask to count the patient’s pills at any time.
* Patients may lose their prescriptions for violating the contract.
* The patient must submit to blood or urine tests if requested.
It’s up to each medical practice and hospital to design its own contract, determine who must sign the agreement and decide what will happen if a patient refuses.
Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston wants its doctors to get an agreement signed by all patients whose treatment continues “beyond a few prescriptions,” unless it’s for end-of-life care. The hospital leaves it up to individual doctors to decide whether to give out a prescription to a patient who won’t sign.
“I think, depending upon your level of comfort with the patient, you might or might not decide to proceed with prescribing,” said Ned Claxton, medical staff president. “I think providers are somewhat more reluctant now to go ahead and prescribe.”
Across the city, St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center adopted an official policy this fall. It requires doctors to get agreements signed by all patients who receive three or more new or renewed prescriptions for controlled substances within six months. It calls the agreements voluntary for patients. However, those who don’t sign won’t get their prescriptions.
“It’s there to protect the patient and to protect our providers, both; to protect the community,” St. Mary’s spokeswoman Jennifer Radel said. “You don’t want this patient to get addicted to a prescription drug. The doctors wouldn’t be doing their job if that were the case. We’re doing what we can to prevent it.”
In general in Maine, patients or their insurers must pay for any drug test ordered.
Many people involved in medicine and substance-abuse prevention like the shift toward controlled-substance agreements. Michael Kelley, chief medical officer of behavioral health at St. Mary’s, believes such agreements help separate narcotics from other prescriptions.
“It re-emphasizes the fact that these are serious medications that actually have a strong addiction potential,” he said. “I actually want my patients to be a little scared of these medications.”
Smith, at the Maine Medical Association, believes the contracts and drug-testing stipulation can help start potentially uncomfortable conversations between doctors and patients about addiction.
“These are good doctors,” he said. “But they’re trained to believe their patients. I can show you case after case where I, as a lay person, go through the medical record and say, ‘What a red flag, and you didn’t react to that?’ And it’s just because they’ve got 30 patients in front of them a day and they’re just trying to do the best they can and some of them have unfortunately not paid as much attention to this and the risks. They’ve erred in favor of believing their patient in the face of all evidence to the contrary.”
But some patients chafe at the idea of drug-testing and feel mistrusted by their doctors. Guy Cousins, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, has heard from some of them. He equates random drug-screening to a medical test.
“There are so many chronic conditions out there that, because of the medication that you’re on, you have to have lab tests done, you have to have liver function tests done,” he said. “These are just kind of like normal medical procedures that help ensure that the care that’s being instituted is done in a way that looks out for the person’s best interest.”
It’s unclear how often patients are drug tested by their doctors or how many are being tested in Maine.
“It depends on the patient and the medication that’s being given,” Kelley said of St. Mary’s. “Certainly, some medications are far more abusable than others. So I think doctors prescribing, say, OxyContin, which has got a massive street value, tend to test a little bit more often than something lower, like codeine. And of course patients have vulnerabilities. So if you’ve got a patient with three relatives with heavy substance abuse, you’re going to be a little more cautious.”
It’s also unclear whether controlled-substances agreements and random drug tests are doing any good. Maine’s addiction numbers remain high, as do the number of babies born with prescription opiates in their systems.
But Smith said the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program shows that doctors wrote about 300,000 fewer narcotics prescriptions in 2011, the first time he’s seen a decline. The number still hovers around 2 million, he said.
Smith called the agreements “one essential element” in an overall plan to address addiction in Maine.
“I believe it’s getting better,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of attention being focused on it.”
Bravo Docs!
Well , what do you know.
Someone is finally paying attention to over prescribing and doctor shopping.
Tests , registry , etc are all good first steps in helping get this out of control
drug problem under control.
Of course , the horse has been out of the barn for years, but now, perhaps,
it can begin to be reigned in.
Nurse Practitioners I know have been doing this for years! They are independent of doctors and can prescribe (including many narcotics). Glad the docs are catching up. This will be one way to keep prescription drugs off the street.
I disagree completely. It will cause problems for the poor, not for others who have the economic resources to push back on their health care provider. You think a lot of lawyers, professionals and soccer moms will be asked to sign such an agreement? not a chance. So here we go again, segmenting out who we think are the less desirables and creating a two tier system.
Mainecare attempting to limit the amount of medication, overriding doctors;
Patients being asked to agree to let doctors report illegal activity;
These are bureaucratic solutions about to create huge problems . Now the patient who is still in pain or perceived pain gets drugs somewhere else, therefore he/she has violated the agreement, No doctor will want to treat the individual after that so now the patient seeks out more self medication, getting the drug wherever it can be had.
Why not get radical and focus on education and help, instead of law enforcement attempting to create a role for themselves in the patient/ doctor relationship where they do not belong.
Education works, these programs, which only impact those without the means to push back, do not.
Just what would you suggest Dr.’s do? There is a real problem with people Dr. shopping. Even the rich and famous do it. Rush Limbaugh comes to mind. Of course he had mega bucks and walked away unscathed.
Short of legalizing all drugs for anyone over the age of 21 who is willing to sign a card stating that they take full responsibility for their actions and that they understand the possible side effects of any drugs they are experimenting with. What can be done about the constant probing of addicts and those who are making a living selling prescription drugs illegally?
If the physician’s aren’t going to take the responsibility to join the state-wide electronic medical record exchange program in Maine and so they can read the patient record, then make the pharmacy system infallible so every narcotic prescription is flagged and the pharmacist can double check to see if the patient has frequent or other narcotic prescriptions being filled at other Maine pharmacies. Then make it mandatory testing for those patients who are flagged. Simple.
Education is always a good thing; however, a tried and true drug addict doesn’t care about anything but obtaining the next fix. We can educate them until we fall over doing so, but until they are finally ready to face their addiction, we are simply wasting time IMO.
I am all for education, but I’m also for putting them on notice that someone is watching them. Whether we want to believe it or not, it will make a difference.
Many drug addicts are not (even in the slightest tiny bit) stupid. Let us not kid ourselves here. They know how to game the system and will do so at the slightest opportunity. Additionally, there are many who tend to have more ‘means’ than people like to think they do. They’re very good at not showing it. Whether or not they obtain those “means” legally or illegally, they tend to be very good at playing “without means.”
When deceiving people on a regular basis becomes necessary in order to obtain the next fix, then it’s a foregone conclusion that some drug addicts will become exceptional actors and actresses.
Let me be clear though, the stereotypical ‘drug addict’ who sleeps in gutters and looks like the Wreck of the Hesperus, is not always the norm for drug addicts.
Addicts come in every flavor but they are never, and I repeat, never hard to discern for a typically medically-trained eye – be they ‘soccer moms’ or (as society likes to call homeless, drug-addicted people because, I guess, it sounds kinder) ‘transients.’
Most health care providers most certainly have dealt with addicts enough to know one when they see one. As far as self-medication goes, there are plenty of people who self-medicate right along with taking their prescription drugs. I’d rather see that their provider has a grip on the extent of that self-medication so as not to overdose their patient with prescribed medications.
These moves go beyond the provider having a grip on the extent of self medication, these moves turn it into a law enforcement issue that will preclude people who need treatment for addiction from seeking it. We stereotype drug addicts, we criminalize the behavior, we push these people to then get desperate in their efforts to self medicate.
The manufacturer of Oxycontin settled for $700 million with the Government and admitted liability as they knew it was far more addictive than other medications, yet downplayed it. Considering that this removed their future liability and they had billions in sales, they win, and in the process changed the face of addiction.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=3162393&page=1
Honest conversations with patients are required to solve this;adding a potential legal threat and the threat that patients will be cut off does not lead to these, so let’s pull in the horns of the law enforcement element and spend that same money on working with patients to help many of them solve a problem that is not of their own making.
I totally agree that drug manufacturers (who, IMHO, are the biggest legal drug pushers around) and government should be absolutely held accountable for shady sales/approval practices. In fact, I think they should be held even MORE accountable than the physicians prescribing it. I could go on ad nauseum about them, but I’ll refrain.
I have had (and seen many) honest conversations with drug addicts. Many. Once again, natural consequences are literally the only thing that works (obviously not for all addicts, but for a great many). I am also acutely aware that some patients (particularly those who have been medicated since they were 3 years old) are addicted through no fault of their own. I absolutely agree they be educated and have honest conversations about why they are addicted, but at some point, if they aren’t compliant following that education, they should be incentivized to at least be put on notice that the enabling won’t continue – even if that means having to whizz in a cup.
I’m not talking about people who were hooked on this junk because they had a back injury, etc. or some other accident and are now at least trying to rectify their situations, I’m talking about those who have no regard whatsoever for what they are putting their families through. DHHS is right full of children who have been totally screwed because of their parent (s) behavior. I’ve read many stories on BDN about people who have gotten off drugs – finally – because the natural consequence of losing their children has opened their eyes. Some people really do need that shock before they realize they need to get serious about help.
I have always been on the side of “innocent until proven guilty.” I highly resent having to show my driver’s license to get real Sudafed in order to prove that I’m not a meth-making crack addict. But be that as it may, I’m also a realist. There is no one perfect cure for drug addiction, but at least medical professionals are now really trying to get a grip on overprescribing (thanks to the possiblity of their losing licensure too – is that ‘profiling’ doctors?) and that’s a good start.
Unfortunately, if we totally pull the horns of law enforcement out of it, I’m afraid we’ll end up with even more beatings and drug-related deaths then we already have.
Everything that you suggested as alternative fixes to this problem has already been tried and proved to be unsuccessful. As for causing problems for the poor, and not for others…what are you talking about?
If you don’t sign the form, you shouldn’t get the requested medication. If asked for a random drug test and you refuse, you don’t get the medication.
Whether you’re poor or not shouldn’t matter. Although I’m now retired, my career required that I be subject to random drug tests, I had the right to refuse the test, and my employer also had the right to fire me if I did. It was as clear as that.
If a person who refuses to comply with reasonable requests to obtain a drug that causes such societal problems as opiates cannot get those drugs from his medical provider, he can always go to a street dealer. But it ain’t gonna be covered by MaineCare,
And then we call him a criminal, supporting this ridiculous industry we have created called the War on Drugs. Do you really think its not proportional that the epidemic is increasing as the number of prescriptions written is decreasing. We would be far better off to keep this in the medical field and not in the law enforcement arena. I would suggest you see “The House I Live in” http://www.thehouseilivein.org/ when it comes to your area. It critically examines this cycle, which I believe increases with these recommendations instead of education and treatment. I find it interesting that when the Prescription Monitoring Service was established in Maine, the assurances were that information was confidential, now we are letting the law enforcement element work its way in, its actually called “mission creep”. I would suggest that the following quote from the article: “But some patients chafe at the idea of drug-testing and feel mistrusted by their doctors. Guy Cousins, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, has heard from some of them. He equates random drug-screening to a medical test” is extremely problematic.
Why are we considering it an acceptable premise that confidential medical information for a patient is shared with a State agency at all? The argument is that Prescription Monitoring will prevent Doctor shopping, but at what cost: individual privacy and confidentiality, and far greater reluctance on the part those with addiction problems to seek legitimate help?
Having seen this problem at close quarters, I’ll stand by my previous statement.
maineopinion12 wrote, in response to libsux:
And then we call him a criminal, supporting this ridiculous industry we have created called the War on Drugs. Do you really think its not proportional that the epidemic is increasing as the number of prescriptions written is decreasing. We would be far better off to keep this in the medical field and not in the law enforcement arena. I would suggest you see “The House I Live in” http://www.thehouseilivein.org/ when it comes to your area. It critically examines this cycle, which I believe increases with these recommendations instead of education and treatment. I find it interesting that when the Prescription Monitoring Service was established in Maine, the assurances were that information was confidential, now we are letting the law enforcement element work its way in, its actually called “mission creep”. I would suggest that the following quote from the article: “But some patients chafe at the idea of drug-testing and feel mistrusted by their doctors. Guy Cousins, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, has heard from some of them. He equates random drug-screening to a medical test” is extremely problematic.
Why are we considering it an acceptable premise that confidential medical information for a patient is shared with a State agency at all? The argument is that Prescription Monitoring will prevent Doctor shopping, but at what cost: individual privacy and confidentiality, and far greater reluctance on the part those with addiction problems to seek legitimate help?
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Actually, I agree with a lot of what you bring up. One nurse practitioner I know did take time to educate her patients, and as far as I know, they were all random tested equally – regardless of economic status. She was often running late because she did take time with her patients.
Our healthcare system in Maine pushes providers to see as many patients as possible. Fifteen minute slots doesn’t give much time to get to know a patient much less provide education.
I look at random drug tests as holding the players accountable – for both the provider and the patient. Doctors will hopefully think twice before refilling prescriptions without evaluating changes, and patients will know they should have the medication show up in their urine – not illegal substances.
Off the subject, but school bus drivers get random drug tests. I don’t see anyone upset about that…
Actually I have seen lawyers, city leaders, soccer moms, and even other doctors sign those contracts. They have all been subject to pill counts, and urine tests.
For my money,NP’s in Maine are better than most of the docs..
Just NP’s? Really? It is the docs too honey.
Look out Rite Aid here they come!
How much of Maine’s drug problem is due to legal prescriptions vs. drugs obtained by other means?
legal prescription seems to be the gate way drug in Maine
they are what is behind the gate,not a gateway
THat probably because the people in Maine want to Work and those who work ,work their bums off in Paper Industries,Construction,and all Labor Jobs.
Not just Maine – everywhere – most kids start in their parents medicine cabinet!
Well that’s the other part of the problem they are trying to fix with urine tests – if the drug doesn’t show up in the patient’s urine, they are probably selling it to people who it has not been prescribed to. It’s probably easier to get prescription drugs than it is to get illegal narcotics. The article also said more people are seeking treatment for prescription pain meds than for alcohol.
I understand the idea behind the proposal, but I believe in operating from the premise that you trust the physician’s judgment until proven otherwise. Not big on these shotgun approaches. That being said, I recognize that people do get addicted to prescription pain meds.
Sad thing is most physicians don’t read the medical record before prescribing. I’ve know identified drug addicts that have been prescribed narcotic pain relievers! Even if it’s one or two pills it’s like giving an alcoholic a drink!
Nearly all prescription opioids abused start out at the pharmacy. (Perhaps in FL or elsewhere, but they nearly all start out with docs writing for the pills.)
Very little of the prescription abuse problem is from theft before the products leave the pharmacy.
A little late to try and straighten out the nationwide epidemic that the healthcare field has created,all in the name of greed. Many doctors have become no more than glorified pill pushers.
My 95 year old mother, at the end of her drug and alcohol free life would have refused to comply with this stupid law.
Here’s a clue Physicians. Catch the bad guys, don’t penalize everyone for the actions of the minority.
Doctors are allowed to make informed choices of who to test and who to not test.
.
Your 95 YO mother would never have been tested. Your comment represents a red herring of the first order.
They checked her for weapons everytime she boarded a plane. Made her take off her shoes. Went through her bags. Even conficated her knitting needles. They asked her for a passport every time she went to Canada. once even searched her car… Told her the “computer picked out ‘random’ vehicles to search.” Is the doctor’s “random” (from the above story) different than the border patrol’s random? Because if it is, then it is not “random.”
I’d like to know why you believe testing is only done to drug addicts? If doctors know who the drug addicts are, why is the testing necessary?
There is no such a fish as a “red herring” Would you be referring to a kipper?
I took it to mean that the timing of the tests would be random, not the selection of who was tested.
It states right in the article “guidelines recommend, in part, that doctors create a controlled
substances contract or agreement with their patients at high risk for
substance abuse or with a history of addiction.” Not that EVERYONE has to sign.
If your 95 year old mother has no history of addiction or a high risk for substance abuse, she will not have to sign an agreement.
It says “St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center adopted an official policy this fall. It requires doctors to get agreements signed by all patients who receive three or more new or renewed prescriptions for controlled substances within six months – all would include 95 year old women with end stage disease.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/red%20herring
So here we go, Maybe the 95 year old mother won’t be, but are you suggesting we “Profile”? Who do we test, people of a certain age, people of a certain socioeconomic background, people from a specific area, people of a certain gender, or people that are just different than what the hospital or physician thinks is someone like themselves. Can you say welcome Bigotry and Stereotypes, we’re glad to have you join as our new consultants for medical decisions.
Let’s focus on public awareness of the dangers of these drugs, and get off of the punitive model. It doesn’t work. Ever.
I’m “suggesting” that the completely asinine assertion that a 95 YO would be forced to take drug tests is, in fact, asinine.
.
Other than that your interpretation comes from no where but your own imagination.
No kidding genius, reread my post and what it linked from; however, restrictions and compliance demand will be placed on those with less resources to push back. I guarantee it.
Any good program tests across the board..everybody..
If it is truly “random” it could happen, depending on the physician he can agree to continue to prescribe without the test but her name certainly could come up regardless of demographics.
Actually you are wrong. How many times has the 90 y/o grandmother been “selected” to get “further screening” at airport security just to show they aren’t profiling? It is the same thing here, the 90 y/o prob has a higher chance of being tested than you do.
I agree with your mother. The pharmacutial companies are basically at fault, pushing drugs and making ones really needed too expensive to buy.
Well, simply then – had she been asked to pee in a cup and refused-your 95 yr old mother wouldn’t have gotten her pills then would she? Pretty ridiculous that you are arguing against this…. maybe you should pee in a cup???
“Pretty ridiculous that you are arguing against this…. maybe you should pee in a cup???”
Yeah, that whole presumption of innocence thing is just a communist plot to turn us all into raving drug fiends. And it’s not like any other information useful to various organizations, like insurance companies, would be contained in that cup, is it?
Stop being a tool.
The article said it would exempt people on end of life care. Obviously, these people are not the problem. Don’t worry. “Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston wants its doctors to get an agreement signed by all patients whose treatment continues “beyond a few prescriptions,” unless it’s for end-of-life care.”
Which is what these drugs were originally prescribed for until the accountants and marketers at XYZ Pharmaceuticals saw the potential for pill bottle gold.
These people’s friends, relatives or home health aids may be a problem, however. My mom’s morphine and vicodins disappeared after a visit from a close relative. Maybe not make 95 year old ladies pee in a cup, but have the main caretaker bring in the bottles for a count every now and then.
She would not have been tested unless she had been prescribed. Sounds like BEFORE the prescription, will come the test..and then again along the way. So if she had not been on pain pills she would not have to worry. Besides, this is really no different than any other…”bad guys are doing it so check everyone” treatment we all get. Go to the bank with a large check, it takes 10 days…go to Walmart, they stop you on your way out to check your receipt, call cable and you better have date of birth and a pass code or you get no info…on and on…all because of the bad guys. I am sick of getting treated like a bad guy everywhere I go but they all have to do what it takes to stay in business.
Doctors need to know if even a 95yo is actually taking the medication they have prescribed as directed. Our elders can be bullied into giving their pills to family members or care takers. It is equally possible that these meds create a bit of extra income to help pay for oil since heating assistance has been cut. Your mother may not have used drugs and alcohol her whole life, but addiction knows no age limits.
Is it as upsetting to have a 95yo have weekly blood tests because they are being prescribed coumadin and doctors need to know if the medication is hurting or helping? If you know of a different method to evaluate addiction, diversion and the potential for elder abuse, please share!
Unfortunately, it is the case – good people have to pay for those bad apples. If there is nothing to hide, they shouldn’t have a problem having the test done!
good it’s about time we randomly drug tested doctors. They are the biggest culprits and abusers, with the easiest access…
I have called the dr’s that prescribe my addict kid..and told them what/how/where she is doing what she shouldnt..they took them away..then gave them back at a higher dose..she sells them..yeah… pen bay
Then why don’t you get your kid in rehab.
cuz she’s 35..and been in and out..they know the score with her..
If I were you I would try harder, and again, and again, and again.
been over 8 yrs of trying..if these drs are going to give these drugs to people they KNOW FOR A FACT are addicts..there is nothing a parent of an adult child can do..unfortunately..she will be the only one missing from the dinner table on Thanksgiving..and she will be missed..but she chooses her own path
Been there done that – unless they want help it doesn’t work and most think they are fine; I have detoxed my adult child personally twice, been in rehab more than once, been on suboxone. The addiction will drag everyone in the family down with them. After years of emotional and financial strain you give up.
I understand the problem – mine is the same age. And unless you are rich or have incredibly good health insurance (which most addicts don’t) good luck getting into a residential program that will hold you for 30 days minimum which is at least what it takes. Even when the addiction is identified in their medical record, with an overdose and patient acknowledgement if they get hurt the ER docs still prescribe narcotic pain meds! It’s like giving an alcoholic a drink! .
yes!!! my daughter almost died..got infection in vein..in hospital 45 days…and THEN…they sent her home with oxys…after I begged them not to..they dont listen..Best wishes for your “kid”
—
Report her again!Good for you for doing it! Especially if its true! A lot of people are reporting folks that they have a personal beef with,and then they are always red flagged,even tho their tests are always as they should be.If you report someone,you should HAVE to leave your name.This cowardly ‘report someone that your mad at” is a waste of time,and should be seen as a false report.
Its true..no beef..just dont want her to die..they dont listen..they know who i am..but addicts know how to play the game very well..I wouldnt wish this on anyone..breaks my heart every frickin day..but shes an adult
Im sorry,You are in a tough spot.Have you tried talking to the prescribing Doc?Seems like you should be able to be heard…
yes I can talk and tell them everything..they can not tell me anything..I understand that..I just asked them to listen to what i was saying as a concerned mom..no one else is going to help her..and they are going to do what they want..they heard me..
These laws and rules may be well-intentioned but all they are going to do is cost patients more money and take time away from doctors that they should be using to treat patients.
Drug prohibition doesn’t work and hasn’t worked for the last 40 years, and a few more laws are not going to fix this failed policy. The violent, expensive War on Drugs should be ended and the focus should be on treatment.
A good start that needs to be followed up by a system of prescription monitoring and accountability that focuses on the doctor’s themselves. We need to get rid of the bad ones.
How about stop over prescribing in the first place? 300k less is a good start, though 2 million prescriptions for painkillers…in Maine?
While there are some serious cases that obviously warrant a need for painkillers, doctors would be better served prescribing ice and NSAIDs for the far more numerous minor cases. Better a few weeks of discomfort than a lifetime of addiction.
But over prescribing heavy duty pain meds is where The Big Bucks are at
The physician does not profit from the sale of the medication, they have nothing to gain by writing the prescription. The drug companies make the profit.
Sure they haven’t,whatever you say
Where have you been? Health care providers get incentives to write them.
Ice & NSAIDs!!! What are you crazy?? That would make the patient take some responsibility & force them to put some effort into managing their pain. Some do need more,but there are far too many in their 30s & up who have jumped on the oxy train & depend on it, want it, need it. Instead of getting actively involved in alternative treatments they end up on the couch, getting disability, gaining weight, creating more health issues. The high doses used for chronic back pain for example will eventually create a non-motivated individual barely able to get out of bed. Before anyone jumps in with their defenses–I understand that there are some with pain issues that these painkillers were intended- But there are far too many lazy patients & docs contributing to this statewide (nationwide) dilemma.
Those sentiments and all the whining about people who are disabled and such is why the GOP was handed it’s loss.
Anecdotal stories, it never stops and neither does the whining about people who need help in this life.
So sorry I hit a nerve. Whining is the name of the game in drug procurement. I repeat, I understand there are some who need help & legitimate pain control with narcotics. Too many times I have seen first hand how they are manipulated & abused. Sorry I offended you.
……
That “oxy train” gets launched from the station by the doctor, not the patient. I know one area physician who had the fastest prescription pad in the west. When a kid in the community got caught with a narcotic this doc prescribed, he acted like he was amazed that it had happened. That’s not to minimize the patient role in being responsible but I’ve seen far too many cases in which the patient puts all of his/her faith in the physician because the doctor must know best.
They do the same with antibiotics, whether the kid needs it or not the parent wants it and the Dr. prescribes it. Guess it doesn’t matter what drug it is, seems like most drugs are over prescribed.
……
Oh, I can see the hair only many people rising… “I don’t want a doctor getting into my recreational habits…”
It is so much easier to harvest your own opiate than it is to beg borrow or steal for pharmaceuticals. AND!! you know what your ingesting!
Oh, I so much don’t approve having to sign for Allegra -D to support my habit… (Sarcasm)
uhg
I want to know who is going to pay for these tests? The physician to protect himself? Or the patient for the right to have pain medication?
I would hope it is for ALL those that are prescribed pain killers. It shouldn’t be for just those on state aide.
GREAT idea! It’s about time.
When the entire National Nightly News programs are subsidized by Big Pharma,this is what you get
Say no to pharmaceuticals say hello to the Moon Crickets
http://www.youtube.com/user/kj6916/featured
The bottom line is that doctors don’t believe people who say they have chronic pain. People in chronic pain often develop a tolerance to their meds and take too much. So the mere evidence of opiates in their urine doesn’t prove they aren’t in pain. Will there be alternative pain therapy for those patients?
you break a nail..give em oxy’s..sore back..oxy…toothache..oxy..cramps oxys..what the hell did we do before them?..
Get rid of the pills people are a bunch of cupcakes in this day in age.
Big brother is rearing his ugly head again.My pee and my blood are an mine,no invasive searches allowed.
No problem. There is no constitutional right to pain medication so you can easily avoid the issue by not seeking controlled meds.
This is the policy in TX where I now live. I have severe OA and its accompanying pain. I have to go to the Dr every two months for a pee test. While medicare pays for the test, it does not pay for the extra copays from the more frequent office visit. And since it is no longer a simple visit that co-pay is now almost three times as much.
My husband who has a brain tumor, three compression fractures in his spine, and a degenerative bone disease has to go every month because he takes a higher dosage of medication.
I’m all for trying to curb abuse of phamaceuticals but there has to be some common sense in the mix. If a person has well documented injuries or conditions then they should not have to go through the same kind of scrutiny as someone who comes in and says they have a backache.
Think these things through legislators. You are hurting those already hurting.
Precisely. I have a neurological disorder similar to Parkinson’s, plus severe spinal stenosis, and both are helped by a nightly low dose of opioids. I’d like to see some of the commenters who denigrate people in pain try actually living with pain for a while.
Same here. My doc stated she would rather I was addicted than have to live with the chronic pain. I take a very low dose and it does help me.
There are two kinds of drug dealers in this country, those that push illegal drugs and the ones that push legal drugs. I have had medical issues that had me in the emergency room or admitted to the hospital on more than one ocassion. Each time, there was a doctor writing a prescription for pain killers before I even experienced any pain. I usually ripped the scripts up without filling them, unless I really had pain. But even then, I stuck to taking the pills only as prescribed, if only because I have seen how easily people can become addicted to these drugs. Big Pharma has made mega bucks from encouraging doctors to prescribe their products, and now it is a major problem that needs to be addressed. Whether this is the solution will only become known in retrospect because hindsight is always 20/20.
What a fantastic idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now that makes sense,I’ve seen the ambulance cart off my neighbor at least once a month cuz she needs a “fix”,and it always seems to be towards the end of the month.5 kids,no job,no ambition.Husband is rarely seen outside. could go on…………..
Great, now do the welfare checks and food stamps too. The Government is not your baby’s Daddy.
I,m afraid this is just the beginning folks,with Obama care on the horizon,the Gov.will be testing your diet as well,This country just signed the final paper work on Socialism.
There are doctors who require everyone to sign a contract. I have and I had no problem doing so. I work in health care as a nurse and see the misue of narcotics all the time. It’s frustrating to have to deal with someone who misuses drugs. Yes docs do sometimes prescribe too many narcotics but that isn’t where most addictions start The individual who takes them has to take responsibility when they prescribed. Just because they are prescribed you don’t have to take every pill prescribed, they are told to take them IF needed
To bad doctors app. are not random.lol
Gee, maybe if they had “Thought” of this 20 years ago, the prescription abuse wouldn’t be so bad!!!
Why think of it then,they would have been out a lot of money and wouldn’t have been able to shear and fleece The Sheep
It’s about time something is done but I hope these changes don’t effect people like my 39yo sister that has been ill for many of years, has had many of operations and lives with pain every day. Even with them some days it only dulls her pain, without them she would never be able cope with every day life!
Some of the people on these pills can not cope without them because they are addicted to them. There really is no pain in some of the people taking these pills, they just feel the pain of withdrawing off the pills.
I am not talking about your sister, I don’t know you and I am not judging you.
If a doctor refused to write me a prescription for pain medication unless I do a random drug test, then I would sue that physician. My physician knows I don’t need a drug test, but if he felt he wanted me to take one, I would sue as well.
Your right, this is not the thing to do.
These drug tests better be supervised (i.e. test administrator watches the subject urinate). Otherwise, passing results are far too easy to fake. All the person has to do is purchase synthetic urine, fashion a belt to hold it under their clothes up against their body to keep it at the right temperature, and they can pass a drug test on the spot, despite it being random. Seems unlikely that someone would do that? Hardly. We all know people go to great extremes for drugs.
If you need a prescription narcotic for pain, remember one thing, you’re guilty of abusing drugs until you can prove your innocence by taking the drug test.
I think it is a good thing, Yet I think doctors doing police work is dangerous for them.
… and society.
From some of the posts, I think people misunderstand the intent of the testing. It is to be sure patients DO have the level of narcotics in their blood or urine they are supposed to have. If not, what are they doing with the drugs they’ve been prescribed?
Doctors requiring random drug tests before writing prescriptions for pain pills would seem to imply they would want a clean urine sample first, no?
The narcotic contracts are for people who are getting more than two or three prescription refills, unless it’s an end of life situation.
It’s about bloody time they started doing this! They are too quick to write that prescription for pain killers than actually trying to control their pain the right way by testing all the options. Prescription for pain killers should be an after thought when nothing else helps.
I say a person only get narcotic pain pills when in the hospital. End all prescriptions for narcotics!
Speaking as someone who had to spend about three weeks tapering off the pain pills after discharge from the hospital for major surgery this past summer: thank you, no. I’d rather not contemplate the alternate scenario in which I either had to spend a month in the hospital or go home with a still-draining abdominal wound and nothing to take the edge off but Tylenol.
This is the best news regarding drugs I’ve read in a long time. These practices should have been in place since the get-go, but better late than never.