The Washington State Attorney
General’s Office, Washington State Patrol and the Washington Association of
Prosecuting Attorneys have issued a 29-page report with seven recommended goals
to reduce illegal opioid use.
The third goal is to reduce the
illicit use of prescription opioids. The report has four recommendations under
this goal,
1. Require
providers to consult the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) before
prescribing certain controlled substances.
2. Eliminate
paper prescriptions.
3. Create
a statewide medicine take-back system.
4. Enable
investigators in Washington’s Medicaid Fraud Control
Unit to be appointed as limited authority peace officer for Medicaid fraud
investigations.
Two of the major sources of
non-medical use of opioids are from doctors and friends or family.
One way to feed an addiction or
to sell opioids is to go “doctor shopping,” that is to visit multiple doctors
or to fill prescriptions at multiple pharmacies. The state maintains a
Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) database that is updated by pharmacists
when they fill prescriptions for certain controlled substances. The database
can be accessed by medical providers to identify patients who may be receiving
too many opioids or dangerous combinations of medications. Currently, medical
providers are not required to look up a patient’s record in the PMP database.
The report would like a requirement that requires medical providers look up
their patients in the database.
Prescriptions on paper lends themselves
to forgery. From April 2015 to early August 2017, healthcare providers reported
86 incidents of fraudulent opioid prescriptions or stolen pads to the Pharmacy
Quality Assurance Commission. Electronic prescribing of prescriptions allows
for a more secure method of communication between a doctor and a pharmacy.
While Snohomish County and King
County have medicine take-back programs, all counties in the state do not
provide a way for citizens to dispose of medicines that are no longer needed.
More than half of teens say that it is easy to get prescription drugs from
medicine cabinets at home. Having an easy, well-advertised way for the public
to dispose of unneeded prescriptions should help to prevent the family medicine
cabinet from becoming an easy drug diversion source.
The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit
(MFCU) is part of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. It
investigates Medicaid fraud within the state, but must rely heavily on local
law enforcement agencies to carry out key investigative tasks such as issuing
search warrants and making arrests. The report points out that the vast
majority of MFCU’s in other states have the authority of limited authority
peace officers. The report believes that this limited authority would greatly
help in Medicaid fraud investigations and in reducing diversion of opioids.
Next post, part 4; disrupt and
dismantle drug trafficking organizations responsible for bringing narcotics
into out state.
For the complete report, go to,
Washington State Attorney General’s Office:
The first goal is to increase
public awareness about the dangers of opioids (http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2017/11/opioid-crisis-washington-states-response.html).
The second goal is to prevent
addiction by curtailing overprescribing (http://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2017/11/opioid-crisis-washington-states.html).
No comments:
Post a Comment