AMA partners with AOA, ADA and others to address opioid addiction epidemic

The American Medical Association has established a task force with the American Osteopathic Association, the American Dental Association and more than 20 state and specialty medical associations to address the opioid addiction epidemic in the United States, according to a viewpoint from Patrice A. Harris, MD, chair-elect of the AMA Board of Trustees.

The organizations developed a roadmap to partner physicians, other health care professionals and patients together to eliminate the public health epidemic of opioid addiction.

Initial steps include:

Use state-based prescription drug monitoring programs to identify patients at risk for opioid misuse and help patients with use disorders receive appropriate treatment;
Discuss available treatment options with patients;
Take advantage of educational opportunities to potentially improve needs of specialties, practices and patient populations.

The AMA requests that states review their prescription drug monitoring programs to ensure they are truly valuable databases that protect patient privacy, house relevant and reliable data, allow health care teams to integrate data into their work flows and enable data sharing across state lines.

Patrice A. Harris

Additional recommendations and education resources from the task force will be released in the coming months, according to Harris.

“America's patients who have a substance use disorder, have acute pain or live with chronic pain deserve compassionate, high-quality and personalized care,” Harris wrote. “We are committed to equipping the physician community to achieve that goal so patients can live longer, fuller and more productive lives.”

For more information:

Visit http://www.ama-assn.org to access resources to enhance education and promote comprehensive, appropriate pain treatment while safeguarding against opioid overdose.