Page 16

OMA Medicine in OR Winter 2015 2016

OPIOID ABUSE, CONT. well-being of patients, it is fitting that the OMA considers addressing the epidemic of prescription opioid misuse, abuse and diversion as one of its top priorities.” OMA aims for the 2016 Legislature The OMA’s top legislative priority for the short 2016 legislative session is to tackle problems associated with opioids. At the time of this printing, the association is promoting passage of HB 4124 that will authorize linking the Emergency Department Information Exchange— dubbed EDIE—with the PDMP. OMA is a member of the Oregon Health Leadership Council, which has been working on the EDIE project since 2014. EDIE uses technology that allows clinicians to track a patient who shows up repeatedly at a hospital emergency department or who visits more than one. “If they were frequently using the ED to seek opiates clinicians could better detect if misuse is occurring and direct patients to more appropriate settings,” said Greg Van Pelt, president of the Oregon Health Leadership Council. The PDMP contains extremely important information in caring for patients, but in its current form can be cumbersome and time-consuming, particularly when caring for patents in a busy emergency department, said Meieran. “Under proposed legislation, this information could be pulled into the EDIE report, so providers caring for a patient would have this information in hand, proactively, in real time, as they are caring for the patient,” she said. HB 4124 will also authorize pharmacists to dispense Naloxone. The Oregon Medical Board’s approach The Oregon Medical Board’s Statement of Philosophy about pain management, first established in 1993, has been amended four times, most recently in 2013. This is one indication of the changing attitudes toward pain control that have evolved as clinicians became more aware of opioids’ potential drawbacks and side effects, said Kathleen Haley, executive director of the Oregon Medical Board. 14 Medicine in Oregon www.TheOMA.org


OMA Medicine in OR Winter 2015 2016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above