Help us help you!– National reporter seeking Oregon Medicaid Patients with Back/Neck Pain Who Were Harmed by Forced Tapering from 2015 – Present.We, the founders of the Oregon Pain Action Group, are assisting a nationally-recognized journalist who has covered our issues and is hoping to speak with individuals who experienced harm due to forced tapering of their opioid pain medication.
In 2016, Oregon Medicaid enacted an unprecedented and radical provision known as Guideline Note 60 (GN60) which required forced tapering of patients who were prescribed opioids for painful conditions of the back, neck, or spine. GN60 was active from January 2016 through January 2021 (with a pause in October of 2019). Even after it was formally withdrawn, no official notice of this change was provided to anyone including CCO’s, prescribers, pharmacists, or patients. It is our observation that the provisions of GN60 live on as unwritten policy within many of the Oregon Health Plan’s CCOs.
The journalist hopes to break this essential story on this massive policy change inflicted on a vulnerable population of Oregon pain patients. This will be a major piece. The journalist has been researching and documenting GN60 and the harms associated with this draconian provision and will confidentially provide patients background information and access to previous pieces he has written about chronic pain. The journalist is interested in speaking with patients (or loved ones of patients), either on or off the record, who have experienced harms including but not limited to:
– elevations in blood pressure and heart rate
– decreased ability to function
– use of opioids from illicit sources
– suicidal throughts / suicide attempt
– death from suicide or accidental overdose
If you were insured through Medicaid and were forcibly tapered from 2015 (GN60’s provisions were implemented in some settings before its official implementation) until now, due to back, neck, or spine pain, please contact us for more information. Even if you were never told about GN60 (as is often the case), you may still have been a victim of it.
If you’d like to learn more, you may either:
1. Contact the journalist directly via email
Oregonpain777@gmail.com
2. Contact Amara and Wendy from Oregon Pain Action Group
oregonpainactiongroup@gmail.com.
We understand typing can be difficult for some patients but if possible, we’d appreciate having a very brief summary of your situation. It would be helpful to know:
– Were you or a family member harmed by forced tapering a Medicaid
recipient at any point between 2016 and now?
– What harms have you experienced as a result of being forcibly
tapered?
– When did the tapering begin?
– What medication(s) were reduced and by how much? (in either
MME’s, milligrams, or number of tablets)
– What types of medication and non-medication therapies are you using
for your pain now or have tried previously in an effort to cope with the
dose reduction?
If you prefer, your identity can be disguised, or you can speak on the record.
Filed under: General Problems
Leave a Reply