AUGUST EDITION, VOLUME 2018, NO. 8
IS YOUR PRACTICE BREAKING THE LAW? JULY 9, 2018 By Pam Irwin, CMS Executive Director On July 1, HB 21, the new Opioid Prescribing Law went into effect. And based on the number of calls and feedback we are receiving at the office, a number of practices may not be in full compliance with the law. Here’s a quick eight question checklist.
breaking the law. You’ll want to familiarize yourself and your practice quickly.
• Are you checking E-FORCSE for every Schedule drug prescription? • Are you limiting opioid prescriptions to a 3-day supply? • If you are writing opioid prescriptions up to 7 days, are you writing “Acute Pain Exception” on the script? • Are you documenting the specific reason for the Acute Pain Exception in the script and chart? • Does every member of your staff who accesses E-FORCSE have their own individual login? • When prescribing Schedule II drugs for traumatic injury with Injury Severity Scores greater than or equal to 9, are you prescribing an opioid antagonist? • Are you seeing patients in your office and checking E-FORCSE for every prescription for Schedule drugs (including chronic pain)? • If you have experienced down time with E-FORCSE, are you documenting the event and limiting that script to a 3-day supply, regardless of the Schedule of the drug? If you are able to say 100% YES to all of these questions, then congratulations, you are in compliance with the new law. If not, you might inadvertently be
BUT, why is it showing as a required course for my license renewal on CE Broker if I don’t have a DEA license? The reason that this course is listed on the physician’s CE Broker account as possibly being a requirement is that FL law now requires FL-licensed prescribers who are DEA-authorized to prescribe scheduled drugs to take this course as part of their CME required for renewal. At this point, Dept. of Health (DOH) does not know which physicians have DEA registrations and which do not. DOH will soon be sending an email to all licensees who can potentially have a DEA registration and asking them to indicate on their profile if they are DEA-registered or not. For those who indicate that they are not registered with the DEA and authorized to prescribe scheduled drugs, CE Broker will remove this from their list of courses required for renewal. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
CAPITAL MEDICAL SOCIETY 2018 MEETINGS CALENDAR August 25, 2018 Connect the Docs CMS/CMSA Family Picnic 11:00 am – 2:00 pm Maclay Gardens ($6 per car entrance fee)
September 18, 2018 CMS Membership & CME Meeting Addressing the Opioid Epidemic (2-Hour CME) Panel: Justin French, Tallahassee Police Department; E. Victoria “Tori” Penny, J.D., Henry Buchanan, P.A.; Celeste Philip, M.D., Florida Surgeon General; Matthew Standridge, M.D., TMH Physician Partners; and Sam Ashoo, M.D., Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Bixler Emergency Center, Moderator 6:00 pm - Maguire Center for Lifelong Learning at Westminster Oaks CONTINUED ON PAGE 11