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AAFP calls on VA to report prescription drug use
The American Academy of Family Physicians has called on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to begin supplying data to prescription drug monitoring programs to help curb opioid abuse and the practice known as doctor shopping.
In a letter to VA Undersecretary of Health David Shulkin, AAFP Board Chairman Robert Wergin, MD, expressed concern over what the academy and various health officials have called an epidemic of opioid painkiller abuse, and its effect on public well-being and safety. In addition, VA’s participation in prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) would add data from millions of patients enrolled in VA health care, which would in turn help the programs become an important tool in the effort against prescription drug abuse, he said.
“I write to urge that all Veterans Administration prescribers participate in their state prescription drug monitoring programs regardless of whether the program qualifies as a law enforcement entity,” Wergin wrote. “We recognize the value of PDMPs and the interstate exchange of registry information and we see PDMPs as vital to curbing opioid misuse and diversion.”
According to the AAFP, Wergin’s letter is part of a larger effort to “advocate, collaborate and educate” regarding PDMPs. Previously, in a March 1 letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid, Wergin praised the bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2015, which provides grant funds for states to establish monitoring programs.
PDMPs allow physicians access to accurate, real-time information when writing prescriptions for Schedule II, III and IV drugs, to determine if a patient is doctor shopping, Wergin said in his letter to Shulkin. He added that incomplete information could put veterans and other patients at an increased risk.
“So it is critical that VA prescribers not be exempt from mandatory reporting to their state PDMP,” Wergin wrote. “Prescribing physicians must have access to timely, comprehensive information for PDMPs to be effective public health tools. The AAFP realizes that there are patients with inappropriate drug-seeking behavior and, in our position paper on pain management and opioid abuse, we have called on all states to implement effective, comprehensive and real-time PDMPs to help thwart such behavior.”
Additional reading:
http://www.aafp.org/dam/AAFP/documents/patient_care/pain_management/opioid-abuse-position-paper.pdf
http://www.aafp.org/media-center/releases-statements/all/2015/TaskForce_Opioid_Abuse.html