Post by Logan on Feb 12, 2016 6:23:36 GMT -6
JEFFERSON CITY • The Missouri House this week was primed to send a bill to the Senate that would change the state's status as the only state without a prescription drug monitoring program.
But the bill has attracted mixed reviews from Republicans concerned about privacy, and the GOP sponsor of the proposal is fending off opposition within her own party.
Under Rep. Holly Rehder's bill, the state Department of Health and Senior Services would start collecting data on patient painkillers prescriptions. Prescription drug monitoring programs, or PDMPs, are designed to help prevent "doctor shopping" — when patients visit multiple doctors seeking multiple painkiller prescriptions to sell or fuel their own addictions.
Opioid painkillers such as Vicodin or OxyContin are in the same class of drugs as heroin. While they're effective at treating pain, they're also addictive — and the amount of prescription painkillers dispensed in the United States has quadrupled since 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The agency says a shift in doctor prescribing behaviors is partially to blame.
Read more: www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/debate-on-prescription-drug-monitoring-held-up-in-missouri-house/article_ab4e25b9-47b9-5da4-a880-60db0b2f9bc0.html
But the bill has attracted mixed reviews from Republicans concerned about privacy, and the GOP sponsor of the proposal is fending off opposition within her own party.
Under Rep. Holly Rehder's bill, the state Department of Health and Senior Services would start collecting data on patient painkillers prescriptions. Prescription drug monitoring programs, or PDMPs, are designed to help prevent "doctor shopping" — when patients visit multiple doctors seeking multiple painkiller prescriptions to sell or fuel their own addictions.
Opioid painkillers such as Vicodin or OxyContin are in the same class of drugs as heroin. While they're effective at treating pain, they're also addictive — and the amount of prescription painkillers dispensed in the United States has quadrupled since 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The agency says a shift in doctor prescribing behaviors is partially to blame.
Read more: www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/debate-on-prescription-drug-monitoring-held-up-in-missouri-house/article_ab4e25b9-47b9-5da4-a880-60db0b2f9bc0.html