Doctors participating in the state’s Medicaid program will soon have to get prior authorization to write prescriptions for opioids as part of a growing effort by state health officials to curb runaway addiction that often begins with these painkillers.
Health officials in Maryland have so far been largely unsuccessful in reducing or stopping rising overdose deaths from opioids, including prescription pain medications, heroin and fentanyl. The latest move marks an effort to grab the attention of doctors who treat the 1.3 million people in the federal-state health program for the poor.
"We really want doctors to stop and think before they prescribe," said Shannon McMahon, deputy secretary for healthcare financing at the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. "We’re using payment policy to drive the outcomes we’re hoping to get."
McMahon said Medicaid officials want doctors to consider alternative painkillers and to better screen patients for abuse or risk. They also are encouraging the doctors to refer more patients to treatment and ensure they have in-hand the overdose antidote naloxone.
She said prior authorization will be required when doctors are not following guidelines from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Released last year, the guidelines outline when it’s appropriate to begin or continue use of opioids for chronic pain, which lasts longer than three months; how big a dose to prescribe and for how long; and how to assess if there is a risk of abuse.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine has created a new set of guidelines to support families while their loved ones are in the ICU. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun video)
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The cognitive effects of pollution are more pronounced in women who carry APOE-e4. (Feb. 1, 2017)
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The agency said by 2012 enough prescriptions were being written for every American adult to have a bottle of pills.
meredith.cohn@baltsun.com
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