Doctors Offer Congress Solutions for the Prescription Drug Addiction Epidemic, Part II
In our last post, we talked about how one group of doctor’s is working to encourage Congress to make prescription drug training mandatory for all prescribing physicians. Dr. David Kloth is a spokesman for the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. He says that this new certification and training should be mandatory because “physicians are busy and they don’t volunteer to do extra certification.”
What Should Prescription Drug Addiction and Overdose Training Include?
Doctors who don’t know how to identify prescription drug addiction or implement preventative measures to help patients to avoid developing a pill dependence would benefit from a mandatory training certification. Dr. Kloth says: “They would be educated primarily on medications – how they interact with other medications, on the metabolism, safe dosing, how to transition from one medication to another, how to monitor and look for signs of abuse, how to use your state’s prescription monitoring program.”
Why Aren’t Prescription Drug Databases Enough to Fight Addiction?
Of the 50 states, 38 of them have prescription drug databases that require pharmacies and doctors to input information about all addictive medications that are prescribed and filled in the state. The goal is to identify the problem when patients attempt to change prescriptions for higher dosages or amounts or ask multiple doctors for similar medications in order to augment their addiction. More states have passed legislation to implement prescription drug databases but don’t have the money to make it happen.
Dr. Kloth thinks these statewide databases should be implemented nationally: “We live in a highly mobile world. It’s too easy for a patient to go to other places and get medication. And these programs need to be interconnected, so a doctor can look at information from all states.”
Dr. Kloth points out that money shouldn’t be an obstacle. The amount of money saved in Medicaid costs for prescription drugs that shouldn’t be prescribed would more than cover the cost of administration of a database. Dr. Kloth describes the results of the prescription drug database in his state: “We have one of these monitoring programs in Connecticut. It costs under $300,000 for the year to administrate. We saved $600,000 on medications last year.”
Fighting Prescription Drug Addiction with Prescription Drug Rehab
If you or someone you care about has developed an addiction to prescription painkillers, anti-anxiety medications, or stimulant pills, take matters into your own hands and find a prescription drug rehab that can help. Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you here at Orchid Recovery Center.