Practice Management
Updates to pain guidelines in the era of opioid addiction have focused on treatment of chronic pain, generally. The latest edict takes a close look at the practice of prescribing narcotic medications for acute pain, however—a subject all the more relevant to the urgent care provider. Improving the Safety of Opioid Use for Acute Noncancer Pain in Hospitalized Adults: A Consensus Statement from the Society of Hospital Medicine recommends limiting the use of opioids to …
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As researchers and legislators in some states consider restrictions on physicians to write prescriptions for opioid pain medications, new research indicates there could be a way to continue prescribing safely—albeit a way that is likely to raise some eyebrows. First, in Indiana, the state hospital association, medical association, and health department have pooled their resources to create guidelines for physicians in the state. In a nutshell, they’re advising physicians to cut back on prescribing opioids …
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The unabated epidemic of opioid and synthetic opioid addiction has moved President Trump to declare it a national public health emergency. It’s also moving occupational health providers, including some urgent care operators, to look at updating the drug screens they give as part of their pre-employment examinations. Tennessee Occupational Health, for one, reports that as much as 80% of positive drug tests they see show evidence of opiates. As recently as 5 years, ago, marijuana …
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Urgent message: Opioid abuse, addiction, and resultant deaths have drawn the attention of both the medical community and legislative bodies from the local health department to the White House. Urgent care is a frequent destination for addicts trying to secure drugs illicitly—but it also has the potential to be the first stop on the road to recovery. Jason M. Ramos and Robert S. Crausman, MD, MMS Case Presentation Manny is a middle-aged white male who …
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An urgent care center in Atascadero, CA has been robbed of hundreds of Norco (acetaminophen and hydrocodone) capsules, with a market value of more than $10,000—and the prime suspect is a former employee, according to police there. The drugs disappeared over a 2-year period, with the perpetrator altering patient records so it appeared the center needed greater quantities than were ultimately stocked. No arrests have been made, to date, but local police are working with …
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Efforts to stem runaway abuse of opioids—and the resultant increases in addiction and deaths—are firing on all cylinders from the White House to the state house. On a more local level, failing to get on board with current regulations can land you in hot water with the DEA. The Urgent Care Association has asked Ronald Chapman, II, an attorney well versed on the subject, to provide a brief primer on DEA compliance with topics that …
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The need to reduce access to opioid pain medications is pretty well accepted at this point, though much of the outcry is vague and often geared toward echoing statistics about the very real epidemic of addiction and death. However, Intermountain Health, which operates InstaCare urgent care centers in Utah and Idaho, has gone a step further by crunching its own numbers and devising a plan to cut opioid prescriptions across its systems by 40% by …
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President Trump recently declared the epidemic of opioid addiction and related deaths to be a national emergency, pledging the federal government would spending more money and pay more attention to stemming the crisis. While details are still to come, theoretically future actions could include mandatory education for prescribers nationally and increasing funds to treatment and prevention programs. Coinciding with that, Express Scripts, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager, is trying to restrict access to opioids. …
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Urgent care clinicians practice where the rubber meets the road—treating patients who feel so bad they cannot wait to be seen by their primary care physician. The downside is that physicians often don’t know patients well—which means they need to be vigilant for opioid addicts and “patients” who are actually looking to obtain drugs so they can sell them for their own profit. This has given birth to a movement seeking to lower prescribing rates …
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Eighty urgent care centers in Los Angeles County, California are closing ranks in an effort to stem runaway abuse of opioid analgesics. Working in concert with the county health department, Safe Med LA signees pledge to follow opioid prescribing guidelines established by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine; to consider screening more patients for opioid misuse or addiction; and to stop refilling “lost” opioid prescriptions and scripts written for chronic pain. Urgent care centers started …
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