New Rules, Prescription Monitoring Lower Overdose Death Rate by 23% in Washington

The pain medication overdose death rate has dropped 23 percent from 2008 to 2011 in Washington, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

Advertisement

In the last two years, the Department of Health created prevention tools to help healthcare providers and consumers. These include new rules for healthcare providers prescribing pain medication and the Prescription Monitoring Program.

New pain management rules for healthcare providers included guidance for using opiate-based medication and encouraged them to become better educated about these drugs.

The Prescription Monitoring Program is an online database that allows prescribers to see all the prescriptions for controlled substances that their patients are receiving. The prescriber can look for duplicate prescriptions, misuse and drug interactions.

More Articles on Pain Management:

SPR Therapeutics Raise $5M For Commercializing Pain Therapies
Study: Joint Disorders, Back Pain Among Top Reasons People Visit Physicians
Study: Vitamin D May Not Prevent Osteoarthritis

At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.

Advertisement

Next Up in Uncategorized

Advertisement

Comments are closed.