"Limiting opioids by tying the hands of providers is not in the best interest of patient care and will likely cause a whack-a-mole effect, resulting in the escalation of heroin use and other agents," said Jeffrey Fudin, PharmD, a pain specialist from Albany, N.Y. "The key ... is to use computerization to better monitor where these drugs are coming from and where and when they're dispensed in real time."
Depending on which way these changes go, we might actually get access to pain medication again, although with new rules.
How true this is, lets not forget people buying drugs from third world countries that have no standards what so ever! All of the AMA physicians are currently in the process of computerization.
Oh, I hope so, Renie. I think about the people who are in way worse pain than I am and I think, "how do they manage???" It's such an unfair system and it throws everyone into the "drug abuser" category. Why didn't they do the "tracking via computers" system in the first place???
Renie, thanks so much for providing this info. It can give those of us in the worst pain some hope.
I'm sure the medical community is going to debate this to death, and eventually get things turned over so we can have proper pain control, but I don't think the government will begin to look for the flaws in the system until HIPAA has the EMR regulations in place, in 2015.
annann is right, the records are only as good as the person entering them, and I've seen some wicked errors in records over the years!
Good article and it makes perfect sense. The problem is that each individual state is trying to solve this by enacting new state laws, instead of working with the AMA. In Washington State lawmakers have been trying to pass stricter prescription drug laws. Enforcement goes up while the quality of patient care goes down. And it is true that doctor's are afraid of losing their licenses or liability suits.
This is great news. I have to b honest that I myself thought I might look into medical marijuana. I wouldn’t by it off the street cause u never know what’s in it. I know that its not the same as doing coke but I had never really thought much about getting it till I heard we may not be able to get other pain meds.
I guess the main reason I would not want to try marijuana is cause it hate the high some meds give u. Then again at times the idea is not so bad.