CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced a new collaborative agreement Friday dealing with best practices for the prescribing and the dispensing of pain-killing drugs.
Morrisey has worked with medical and health groups on the recommendations and more than a dozen groups have signed-off on the plan.
“By bringing together the AMA (American Medical Association), the American Osteopathic Society, health care professionals, the (WV) board of medicine and many others, it sends a message that we’re moving to another level here in the Mountain State in terms of our aggressiveness in going after opioids,” Morrisey said.
MORE Read best practices recommendations here
Morrisey told MetroNews Friday he believes the best practices can cut opioid use in the state by more than 25 percent.
“This is designed toward improving best practices for prescribing and dispensing and for recognizing that there are non-opioid alternatives available,” Morrisey said.
The 15-point best practices recommendations include the continued monitoring of patients by their prescribing doctors.
A sample of the recommendations:
-Prior to prescribing opioids for chronic pain, conduct a physical examination of patient.
Check for needle marks, signs of opioid intoxication, and signs of opioid withdrawal.
-Prior to prescribing opioids, review the patient’s medical records and, if possible, consult
with the patient’s previous prescriber.
Morrisey believes doctors and other health care professionals will follow the recommendations which will widely distributed. He said the key is that not one group came up with the recommendations instead they were worked on jointly by various groups.
MORE Read best practices for dispensing drugs here
“By dozens of different groups and entities coming together behind this initiative, it’s so critical that we work together to solve this opioid crisis because we know there are still too many pills flooding into our state” he said.
Morrisey said the proposals will not impact patients suffering pain for things like cancer treatments and end-of-life care.
The next step in the fight against the pain-killing drugs will come on the reimbursement side of the ledger, Morrisey predicted.
“So that insurance companies and the government actually set up the right type of financial incentives so that opioids aren’t just the first line therapy option,” he said.
The supporting the recommendations include:
School of Osteopathic Medicine, Primary Care Association, Academy of Family Physicians, Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, Physical Therapy Association, Occupational Therapy Association, Association of Licensing Boards and the Family Medicine Foundation of West Virginia, along with the American College of Osteopathic Neurologists and Psychiatrists, American Occupational Therapy Association, American Massage Therapy Association, International Association of Yoga Therapists and the American Meditation Society