Post by Logan on Feb 4, 2016 2:23:52 GMT -6
In a bill advanced by a House subcommittee Tuesday, doctors and other prescribers would be required to check the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program before writing a prescription for opioid painkillers for longer than two weeks.
House Bill 293 is aimed at curbing overprescribing of drugs such as oxycodone and stemming an alarming rise in prescription opioid and heroin overdose deaths across the state and nation.
The Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program database was set up a decade ago to allow prescribers and pharmacists to check if patients were going from doctor to doctor to get opioid prescriptions.
But the confidential online system has been underused.
Read more: www.richmond.com/life/health/article_b06ec8a2-eb03-5534-be78-f6909bfea046.html
House Bill 293 is aimed at curbing overprescribing of drugs such as oxycodone and stemming an alarming rise in prescription opioid and heroin overdose deaths across the state and nation.
The Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program database was set up a decade ago to allow prescribers and pharmacists to check if patients were going from doctor to doctor to get opioid prescriptions.
But the confidential online system has been underused.
Read more: www.richmond.com/life/health/article_b06ec8a2-eb03-5534-be78-f6909bfea046.html