SACRAMENTO, Calif.,
Aug. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- With a unanimous vote the California Assembly approved SB
482 today, legislation that will begin reversing the opioid
overdose epidemic by requiring doctors to check patients'
prescription histories before prescribing. The bill now heads to
the Senate for concurrence before being sent to the governor.
"California loses more people
to opioid overdoses than any other state and opioid overprescribing
devastates thousands of California
families every year. Reviewing a patient's prescription history
gives doctors the information they need to safely prescribe
opioids, manage dependence and prevent abuse. We applaud the
Assembly for taking action to ensure all California doctors utilize this life-saving
tool," said Carmen Balber, executive
director of Consumer Watchdog.
Opioid prescribing has quadrupled since 2009 and overdose deaths
have skyrocketed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
has identified overprescribing of opioids as a central cause of the
crisis. The CDC, American Medical Association, California Medical
Board, and academic and medical professionals across the country
have recommended physicians use prescription databases as a key
tool to improve pain treatment and reduce misuse, abuse and
overdose.
SB 482 implements that recommendation by requiring doctors to
have a patient's prescription history in hand before prescribing
opioids and other potentially dangerous drugs. It requires
physicians to check a patient's prescription history in the state
Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System
(CURES) database, before prescribing an opioid or other controlled
substance, and to check again every four months if treatment
continues.
Bob Pack, of Danville, lost his two young children, 7
year-old Alana and 10 year-old Troy, when they were run over by a
driver high on drugs and alcohol. The driver had been recklessly
prescribed narcotics by seven different doctors at the same
hospital who didn't check her symptoms, or prescription history.
Pack's advocacy spurred creation of the modern CURES prescription
database, and he has fought for a decade in the legislature and at
the ballot to ensure doctors use this life-saving tool. Families
across the state who have lost loved ones to opioid addiction and
abuse have organized in support of SB 482.
At least sixteen states have enacted similar laws requiring
physicians to periodically check prescription-monitoring programs
before prescribing opioids. According to the PMP Center of
Excellence at Brandeis University,
New York saw a 75% reduction in
doctor shopping after the first year of use. Kentucky saw opioid prescriptions fall 8.5% in
its first year. A Tennessee survey
of physicians about use of its database found that: 41 percent
report they are less likely to prescribe controlled substances
after checking it; 34 percent report they are more likely to refer
a patient for substance abuse treatment; and, 86 percent report
that the database is useful for decreasing doctor shopping.
In January, the California
Attorney General's office announced that a two-year $3.6 million upgrade to California's prescription database, known as
"CURES," was complete. Every health care provider licensed to
prescribe or dispense medications was required to register to
access the CURES database by July 1
of this year.
Learn more about Consumer Watchdog online at
www.ConsumerWatchdog.org
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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog