Nearly four dozen people die each day from prescription drug overdoses, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As physicians, we have the job of monitoring and treating our patients’ pain while also playing a strong role in prevention—and these are no easy tasks.
The AMA has taken on the issue of addressing the prescription drug overdose crisis, working with groups such as the National Governors Association to advance the association’s five-pronged approach to curbing this epidemic. Here’s what the AMA is doing to ensure physicians play a leading role:
- Advocating for continued balance and state flexibility to guide policy. We know that pain is the most common medical complaint and can be difficult to effectively diagnose, treat and manage. We work hard to balance our ethical obligation to treat pain against the need to recognize signs of abuse and diversion. Policymakers should endorse this balance, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
- Urging state licensing boards, public health agencies, state medical and pharmacy associations, and other stakeholders to work together. This includes community-based prevention and increased access to substance abuse treatment, both of which still are lacking even as overdose and death rates continue to climb.
- Making prescription drug monitoring programs useful for physicians. We want states to support programs that can provide reliable, real-time data at the point of care. These programs should be interoperable with other states and agencies. Most states have struggled to fully fund or modernize prescription drug monitoring programs to make them as useful as possible to physicians.
- Urging states to support a full range of clinical treatment services and enact policies that support treatment and prevention. Substance abuse and addiction demands medical treatment. Balancing treatment and prevention with law enforcement efforts is crucial. We support the use of the overdose antidote naloxone by first responders and family and friends of patients or addicts to prevent overdose deaths.
- Cautioning policymakers to carefully proceed with mandates. When states seek to enact overly restrictive mandates, it has reduced the supply of opioids. But that has led to two troubling consequences: Patients who suffer needlessly because they lose access to medication they need, and surges in heroin use.
We need more discussion about how enhanced education, increased use of drug courts and removing unwanted medications from communities, all of which are part of the AMA’s comprehensive public health focus. The AMA is ready to work with policymakers across the country to address this public health crisis.
Physicians also must continue to enhance their own knowledge about treatment, prevention, responsible prescribing and other areas specific to their practice. The AMA has educational activities for physicians, including a 12-module online pain management series and free archived webinars. Visit the AMA’s Web page on combating prescription drug abuse and diversion to learn about the AMA’s work with state medical associations, federal agencies and lawmakers to stop prescription drug abuse and preserve access to treatment for the patients who need it.
