Oregon Medical Board investigations and narcotic prescribing
It is my recent experience that during medical board investigations, no matter what the nature of the initial complaint, a physician’s prescribing practices will be reviewed if there is any opportunity to do so. And why not? From the Oregon Medical Board’s perspective, there is a national opioid problem, and part of that problem resides in Oregon. As recently as July 6, 2017, this was the “good news” in Oregon:
“Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s acting director, expressed tempered optimism about the first national decline in opioid prescriptions that the CDC has reported since the crisis began in the late 1990s.
“She said the prescription rate is still triple the level it was in 1999 and four times as much as it is in some European countries. Even at the reduced prescribing rate, she said, enough opioids were ordered in 2015 to keep every American medicated round-the-clock for three weeks.
“‘It looks a little bit better, but you really have to put that in context,’ Schuchat told the Washington Post. ‘We’re still seeing too many people get too much for too long.'”
Study: Opioid prescriptions largely drop in Oregon counties, July 6, 2017.
The problem is worse in Oregon’s rural counties:
“In Oregon, Curry County prescribers gave out the most opioids per person in 2015, followed by Baker and Malheur counties. At the bottom of the list — Grant County.”
Study: Opioid prescriptions largely drop in Oregon counties, July 6, 2017.
It is also my experience that rural practitioners will defend their prescribing practices by expressing sympathy for their patients, and explaining that a large percentage are uninsured and there isn’t a pain specialist for miles around. Unfortunately, it is my further experience that these explanations will not get you very far with the Oregon Medical Board. From the Oregon Medical Board’s perspective, there may be a problem, but narcotics are not the long-term solution in most cases. If you possess a state medical license and a federal DEA Registration, the Oregon Medical Board expects you to know this, and to do your part to correct the situation.
Sympathy, combined with skepticism and alternatives
The Oregon Medical Board makes its prescribing guidelines – Oregon Opioid Prescribing Guidelines: Recommendations for the Safe Use of Opioid Medications – available on the rotating banner of its website home page, or click here.
Using sarcasm to make a final point, if you truly want to invite trouble from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or the Oregon Medical Board, treat chronic pain with narcotics in excess of 90 days and 120 MED (morphine equivalent dose), with too much sympathy by the practitioner, in an under-served rural area, with a large percentage of uninsured patients and no pain specialist within miles, which is a recipe for trouble and an invitation for a DEA or Oregon Medical Board inquiry.
