In This Issue:
From your Medical Board
We are doing our best to make sure everyone is PMP compliant. We recently received a list of licensees from OBNDD who may not be fully compliant and notified those individuals via e-mail. If you received a PMP Warning e-mail, please use the link provided in it to report your status to us so we can update it.
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The Opioid War continues in full force. The emphasis in Oklahoma is to make sure every physician who prescribes any schedule of Opiates, Benzodiazepines and Carisoprodol queries the PMP required by state law. The OBN PMP registry is “painless”, free, easy to use AND MOST OF ALL, IT CAN SAVE LIVES.
PMP - It’s the LAW: “Get it, Use it, don’t regret it”
Oklahoma Opioid CME requirement: SB1446 [Nov. 1, 2018] requires that each physician & PA who possesses OBN & DEA Permits, shall complete a one-hour CME course annually in Proper Opioid Prescribing or Addiction Medicine. The license renewal process will have a question about meeting the annual one-hour CME requirement – yes or no. Upon a random audit the physician or PA will be asked to submit the applicable certification as proof. Most of the Oklahoma CME programs being offered will meet this requirement but check with the CME provider to make sure.
Two important Dates for doctors coming up: 1. January 2020 2. January 2021
- Oklahoma Law requires that by 1/1/20, all physicians will have to use Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances (EPCS). See articles below. The Medical Board is working with the OBN to make this transition timely. Get ready for this requirement and don’t depend on an 11th hour waiver.
- January 1, 2021, Medicare and major pharmacies will begin mandatory Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances (EPCS) for the Part D drug program and other health insurance plans
Keep Your Personal Profile Current: Mailing addresses & emails - It is a requirement that you keep the Medical Board up to date on your mailing address and we are asking you to keep us up to date on your most current and preferred EMAIL. We receive a large number of returns on both mail and email.
435:10‑7‑7. Relocation of residence or practice
All physicians licensed in the State of Oklahoma must submit a street address upon relocation of residence, if used as mailing address, and/or practice address.
[Source: Amended at 11 Ok Reg 4535, eff 7-27-94 (emergency); Amended at 12 Ok Reg 1223, eff 5-11-95]
You can go into the Board website: www.okmedicalboard.org and update your personal profile information 24/7 by logging in like you are going to renew your license and it will allow you to make changes
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Oklahoma physicians and Physician Assistants (PA) who prescribe opioids must register with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBNDD) Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP). The mandate includes prescriptions for opioids, synthetic opioids, semisynthetic opioids, benzodiazepines or Carisoprodol.
Register at Oklahoma PMP AWARE. Registration is quick, easy and free.
Failure to do so could result in sanctions from the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision (Oklahoma Medical Board.)
Oklahoma law requires physicians to access PMP before prescribing an opioid to a new patient or once every 180 days when authorizing a prescription refill to assess medical necessity or the possibility a patient may be trying to obtain prescription drugs unlawfully.
Physicians must check PMP before prescribing opioids for acute pain. According to Oklahoma law, opioid prescriptions for acute pain “shall be for the lowest effective dose” and are limited to a seven-day supply.
A recent survey by the Oklahoma Medical Board found nearly 500 physicians and PAs have prescribed opioids but are not registered with PMP. The Oklahoma Medical Board will attempt to contact and inform the non-registered physicians of their legal responsibility. The Medical Board will then work with OBNDD and State Attorney General to identify and cite unregistered physicians.
Possible sanctions for physicians who fail to register with PMP are: license revocation; suspension; probation; practice stipulations, limitations, restrictions and conditions; censure; reprimand; charity service; CME/educational training/treatment program; and administrative fines of up to $5,000 per incident.
If you prescribe opioids or think you will, register with PMP. It’s the law.
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Effective January 1, 2020, all prescriptions issued in Oklahoma (with certain exceptions) for Schedule II, III, IV and V medications must be filed electronically.
The requirement is contained in Oklahoma House Bill 2931 which was passed by the Oklahoma Legislature and signed by the Governor during the 2018 Legislative Session.
One major exception to the electronic requirement is when a practitioner “experiences temporary technological or electrical failure or other extenuating circumstance that prevents the prescription from being filled electronically.” The failure shall be noted in the patient’s medical record.
The electronic prescription mandate also does not apply to veterinarians; practitioners who dispense directly to a patient; practitioners who order controlled dangerous substances to be administered through an on-site pharmacy in a hospital, nursing facility, hospice inpatient facility, outpatient dialysis facility or continuum of care facility; a penal institution; pharmacy located on federal property; or a practitioner who has received a waiver or extension from a licensing board.
Electronic prescriptions may not be used for compound prescriptions or compounded infusion prescriptions containing two or more commercially available products or two or more active pharmaceutical ingredients; prescriptions issued under approved research protocols; or if a practitioner determines a patient may be at risk if an electronic prescription cannot be issues in a timely manner.
Prescriptions for all the exceptions listed above must be issued on an official prescription form provided to practitioners by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (OBNDD). Practitioners must register with OBNDD which will then provide personalized prescription forms. Registration is free.
ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTIONS: BE PREPARED
The age of electronic prescriptions is here. Make sure you are prepared.
In January, 2020, Oklahoma law will require that all prescriptions for Schedule II, III, IV and V medications be issued electronically.
Like Oklahoma, almost half of the states have or are in the process of implementing Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances (EPCS) laws.
All other states will soon follow because on January 1, 2021, Medicare will begin mandatory EPCS for the Part D drug program.
In addition, many of the nation’s major pharmacy chains will soon require EPCS if they haven’t already.
To prepare, physicians should make sure all their practice information is correct and current with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (OBNDD), OBNDD’s Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP), and the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision. Be sure to confirm with office staff and/or practice managers that all software and prescription- related materials comply with state and federal guidelines and protect patient confidentiality.
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For the first time in about a decade, more people died from drug overdoses in urban rather than rural areas, according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
For the years 2016 and 2017, NCHS reported roughly 21 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in cities as opposed to just over 19 deaths per 100,000 in rural America.
NCHS noted that overdose death rates were essentially the same in urban and rural communities for the age groups 0-14 and 25-44. Deaths were higher in urban areas for all other age groups.
More women died of drug overdoses in rural areas compared to urban areas while urban males had a higher OD rate than rural communities.
In both rural and urban counties, synthetic opioids were primarily responsible for overdose deaths.
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