AMA ‘Greatly Concerned’ By Rising Number of Opioid Overdoses
/By Pat Anson, PNN Editor
The American Medical Association is once again urging states, regulators and policymakers to waive limits and restrictions on prescriptions for opioid medication and other controlled substances during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a briefing paper released this week, the AMA said it was alarmed by an increasing number of reports of opioid-related overdoses, particularly from illicit fentanyl. The AMA cited recent reports from the Pacific Northwest that thousands of people were unexpectedly dying from causes other than COVID-19, such as fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills and medical conditions aggravated by delays in getting routine healthcare.
“The AMA is greatly concerned by an increasing number of reports from national, state and local media suggesting increases in opioid-and other drug-related mortality—particularly from illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs,” the AMA said. “More than 40 states have reported increases in opioid-related mortality as well as ongoing concerns for those with a mental illness or substance use disorder.”
The AMA urged states to adopt new DEA guidance giving more flexibility to physicians treating patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). The DEA has already waived federal requirements for in-person visits before prescribing addiction treatment drugs such as buprenorphine (Suboxone), methadone and naltrexone.
For patients in pain, the AMA recommended that states take a number of steps to make it easier to obtain pain medication during the pandemic:
Authorize physicians to prescribe opioid medication to existing patients without an in-person visit
Waive limits on prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances, including limits on dose, quantity and refills
Waive requirements on electronic prescribing; authorize prescriptions to be sent to pharmacies via telephone
Waive drug testing and in-person counseling requirements for opioid refills; allow for telephone counseling
Enhance home-delivery medication options for patients with chronic pain
The AMA urged many of these same measures be adopted in the early stages of the pandemic.
In a recent letter to the DEA, the AMA strongly recommended that the agency keep its relaxed prescribing guidelines in place indefinitely.
“There is an urgent need to ensure that patients with pain and patients with OUD receive evidence-based care, and this need will not cease with the end of the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote James Madara, MD, Executive Vice President and CEO of the AMA..
“The AMA strongly recommends, therefore, that all of the flexibilities that have been put in place by DEA during the COVID-19 PHE (public health emergency) be kept in place at a minimum until both the COVID-19 and the opioid public health emergencies come to an end.”
