Overdoses of Prescription Pain Medications

1. Overdoses of Prescription Pain Medications

2. Overview of Issue & NSC Strategy • Prescription drug overdose is a leading cause of unintentional injury death in America. • NSC will seek to stop the trend of increased deaths and reduce annual deaths by 10% over five years. • NSC will work with partners to reduce the supply of Rx pain medications that are currently being prescribed and misused.This will include advocating for changes in -- • State Laws • Physician/Prescriber Practices • Health Care Insurance/Employer Practices • Employer Recognition and Management of Employees • Public Education about Misuse and Disposal of Rx drugs

3. NSC Advocacyto change state laws, prescriber and insurance practices • Expanded Use of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs in every state among all doctors and pharmacists. • Regulation of Pain Clinics. • Establish guidelines that specify the medical conditions eligible for Rx opioid pain medications (example: cancer patients only) • Encourage requirement of prior approval and utilization review for certain medications based on patient diagnosis, patterns of prescribing, duration and dosage. • Encourage licensing boards to restrict or remove licenses of prescribers involved in misuse • Promote “lock in” programs that restrict patients to one physician/one pharmacy for Rx pain medications. • Encourage health insurance “flagging” of employees in health plans who may be misusing pain medications

4. Employer Education • Impact and costs associated with Rx medication abuse and misuse • Promote adoption of drug-free workplace policies and workplace substance abuse prevention programs • Ensure that employee health and workers compensation benefit providers contracts include -- • provisions that address substance abuse treatment, • processes to identify doctor shopping, • reimbursement for providers for use of PDMP reports, and • “lock in” programs for patients whose prescribing history suggests they may be misusing Rx drugs.

5. Public Education • How to identify overdoses and render emergency first aid. • Safe use of Rx medications and community approaches or models to prevent prescription drug overdoses. • Safe disposal of Rx medications to reduce oversupply and availability of these medications for misuse.

6. Actions This YearIdentify Best Practices, Build Key Partnerships, Issue Guidelines for Employers • National Governors’ Association – work with 7 states to identify best practices in states, including desired/model legislation, regulations (July – March). • National Alliance of Model Drug Laws-- identify the existing laws/regulations in each state and how they compare to the models established in research. (August-January) • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-- bring partners together from Federal government, state governments, public health, pharmaceutical industry, pharmacies and prescribers to build consensus on strategies and commitment to them from key sectors. (March). • NSC Whitepaper-- Educate employers on best practices in managing Rx use among employees and their families. (May-June).