Pubdate: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2008 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Contact: http://www.heraldtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398 Author: Thomas Tryon AN ONLINE RX FOR DRUGS' DEADLY TOLL Suppose a doctor who teaches and practices pain medicine asked you to support legislation that would help save lives, improve patient care, prevent addictions and stem illegal trafficking in prescription drugs. Suppose that a local pharmacist wrote you a letter stating, "The amount of dubious prescriptions for oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl, other miscellaneous opiates and benzodiazepines that enter my pharmacy is not only frightening, it's appalling." Suppose that your state's medical examiners issued a report warning that the number of deaths linked to abuse of powerful painkillers and sedatives has steadily increased in your region and state -- exceeding the death toll from some of the most widely used illegal drugs. And suppose that medical research in the United States showed that electronic recording and tightly controlled sharing of patients' medication histories promoted patient safety. Now, stop supposing. All these things have happened. I was recently paid an office visit by Dr. Rafael V. Miguel. He's director of the pain medicine program at the University of South Florida. He practices at a Sarasota Memorial Health Care System clinic and is certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology, with a subspecialty in pain medicine. An expert, in other words. Dr. Miguel and the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists support Senate Bill 1550, which calls for the creation of a statewide "Patients' Medication History Web Site." The bill would empower the state Agency for Health Care Administration to help design and operate a Web site that "gives health care practitioners, pharmacies, and pharmacists access to patient medication history through a privacy-protected" electronic record. The Web site, if used properly, would provide protection against multiple prescriptions that might pose contraindications or other risks. It would link doctors and pharmacists, and enable them to flag suspicious patterns associated with attempted purchases of high-powered narcotics. Miguel said the site would give reputable docs more confidence: In other words, they'd know if their patients are getting drugs elsewhere - -- and either selling or abusing them. He concedes that the site wouldn't prevent doctors who run "pill mills" -- dispensing meds without regard to patient need, often at big profits -- but stressed that it would help pharmacists question suspicious prescriptions. Pharmacists already know there's a problem, according to Dan Gregory of Sarasota, who wrote a letter to the editor in February, expressing his professional concerns about the rising number of "dubious prescriptions" and the resulting threats to public health. "Intervention would definitely reduce needless overdoses and deaths," he wrote. The numbers and trends are troubling. In 2006, the Florida medical examiners' report said, 160 people died from drug overdose in Sarasota, Charlotte, Manatee and DeSoto counties -- nearly triple the number five years prior. During the first six months of 2007, 101 deaths in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties were directly caused by six of the most abused drugs. Medicaid and private-sector insurance programs patient-data Web sites to control costs and monitor treatments. Dr. Miguel says states that use similar sites have lower drug-related death rates than those that don't use the technology. So, suppose you were in the Florida Legislature: If you had all this information, would you let SB 1550 languish in the Senate Judiciary Committee or allow its companion to stall in the House Committee on Health Quality, as they're doing? Or would you demand that this legislation not be allowed to die because, if it does, more Floridians will unnecessarily do the same? - --- MAP posted-by: Derek