Kasich announces expanded system to track prescription painkiller abuse
I wonder how many of those 40 million doses should have gone to legit chronic pain pts ? How much suffering is this and other BOP’s and bureaucrats/politicians good intentions are causing. ?
COLUMBUS — The pharmacy at a downtown Columbus Kroger became unusually crowded Monday morning as Governor John Kasich announced plans to further a crackdown on prescription drug abuse.
Kasich plans to spend up to $1.5 million over the next year to integrate the Ohio Automatic Rx Reporting System (OARRS) into the existing network of patient medical histories. OARRS is designed to track the prescription opiate history of patients at risk of addiction or abuse.
The integration will allow pharmacists to check patients’ opiate histories within the same system that they view their entire medical history. The goal is to cut down on illegitimate prescribers and the practice of “doctor shopping” for opiate painkillers.
“Whenever I’m with a group of students, particularly college students, I say, ‘I know I sound like Dad,’” Kasich said. “’Don’t do drugs. You take the first OxyContin and the next thing you know, you’re an addict. Once that’s on your back, you may never get it off.’”
Cincinnati-based Kroger is one of the first major pharmacies to integrate OARRS into their medical record system, allowing instant reports on opiate prescription history.
Kasich said that almost every state has a system similar to OARRS, but many health professionals don’t use them, attributing the problem to crippling bureaucracy in the health system. His plan is targeted at making the system easier to use.
He said that he’s not in favor of mandates and that this plan was only possible with the cooperation of the State Hospital Association and the State Board of Pharmacy.
“I would prefer to have total cooperation and community without the bitterness of a sledgehammer,” Kasich said. “You know what? We don’t have to use a sledgehammer, because its working… we are all signing up for these efforts to try to protect our young people.”
The Board of Pharmacy touted a decrease of 40 million opiate doses prescribed between 2013 and 2014 and Kasich recalled his efforts to shut down “pill mills” in southern Ohio, but they both say more needs to be done to curb addiction.
Last month, legislators highlighted the growing danger of fentanyl , an end-of-life opiate painkiller that is purported to be stronger than heroin and linked to a rise in overdose deaths in Ohio.
Tonda DaRe lost her 21-year-old daughter to a heroin overdose 3 years ago after she was prescribed tamper-resistant painkillers .
“I appreciate that what’s been done in the fight over prescription drugs helps so many other people,” DaRe said. “I don’t want any other parents to go through what I’ve been through, am still going through, her sister, her dad, and her 4-year old son. We’ve got to save these kids.”
Kasich’s Campaign
The event was Kasich’s first public appearance in the state this month. He has been heavily involved in his presidential campaign, particularly in New Hampshire, where the first 2016 primary vote will be held on February 9.
Kasich responded to questions about his campaign, recent polling numbers, and the upcoming third Republican debate.
In response to a statement from Donald Trump in which he took credit for moving a Ford manufacturing plant from Mexico to Avon Lake, Ohio, Kasich said he was clearly mistaken.
“You don’t win jobs through bombast,” Kasich said. “You win jobs by having a stable environment, a budget under control and some reasonable tax incentives. Bombast doesn’t win jobs and those who use bombast as a way to get things done rarely carry the day.”
Kasich took credit for keeping those manufacturing jobs in Ohio, despite the fact the the Ohio Legislature had approved the incentives that brought Ford to Ohio in the first place.
Ben Postlethwait is a fellow in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News Bureau. You can reach him via email or follow him on Twitter @BCPostlethwait
Filed under: General Problems
more brain dead trying to fix something they don’t understand!
Is that is how the government measures success is by the decrease of 40 million doses of narcotic medication then the same logic (illogical) holds true that by decreasing the number of units of insulin produced from one year to another and making the claim that you have reduce the number of people with diabetes would hold true. Its always sexy for the media to report on the promising 19 year old kid who overdosed on pain pills. Not so sexy is the 50 something year old that has a debilitating chronic pain conditions such as RSD and other severe diseases that cause a person to be in great pain 24/7. It takes a special kind of stupid to make a claim like that. It is precisely because of these wrong-headed approaches to reduce drug abuse that turn law abiding citizens into criminals when they are so desperate that day ask a friend of a friend of a friend and finally find a source to purchase heroin in an attempt to get relief. And not to mention the harm actually caused by drug abusers forcing to switch from pharmaceutical opiates to heroin. They have no idea of the potency nor do they have any idea what the dealer used to cut the heroin with in order to increase profits. There has been a huge spike in overdose deaths related to heroin and a corresponding decrease an overdose deaths relating to opiates. By trying to squeeze the supply of the amount of opiate doses available is not effective whatsoever and is actually more harmful to everyone involved be in the chronic pain patient or the drug abuser. Nobody wins with this approach. There are much better approach is out there to dealing with drug abuse. In the US we are stuck in the dark ages of how to treat the disease of addiction. Portugal change their approach to a much more enlightened approach. I am NOT able to attach an image to this post but if you look in the group Florida fight for Pain Care Action Network aka FFPCAN you will see the meme I just posted.
Personally I cannot wait for one of these anti opiate people to end up in the hospital after surgery leaving with a prescription for motrin 800 milligram or going to the ER for excruciating back pain and being given a non narcotic analgesic. Let’s see how that works out for them.
I apologize for the errors in my comments. There is no way to go back and edit something once it has been posted. Sigh. The benefit of commenting on a post in facebook are twofold: you can go back and edit your mistakes and you can attach an image to the comment.