Health News
If the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure doesn't increase its oversight on doctors who prescribe excessive amounts of pain pills, House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Tuesday he'll find an agency that will. "If the medical licensure board refuses to do its job, then we will try to find some entity in the enforcement community that wishes to do that," said Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, right.
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Health News
Licensing board needs to step up its game against pain-pill docs, Stumbo says
If the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure doesn't increase its oversight on doctors who prescribe excessive amounts of pain pills, House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Tuesday he'll find an agency that will. "If the medical licensure board refuses to do its job, then we will try to find some entity in the enforcement community that wishes to do that," said Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, right.In 2003, the licensing board asked to be able to analyze data from the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting registry ? known more commonly as KASPER ? so it could identify over-prescribing doctors. That same year, the legislature passed a law "that would allow the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which maintains KASPER, to provide geographical data about prescriptions for controlled substances. The licensing board could use that data to determine whether doctors were overprescribing controlled substances in areas that had high prescription rates," the Lexington Herald-Leader's Beth Musgrave reports.
But the board had not used the data, Stumbo said.
Lloyd Vest II, the licensing board's general counsel, said the data was not used because it was not specific enough. The cabinet informed the board it did not have the legal right to analyze the data in depth, he added.
Stumbo informed Vest the board is the only agency that had the legal authority to study the information.
Bill Schmidt, the board's executive director, said the board, which does not receive any government funding, does not have the staff to deal with the data analysis Stumbo is asking for. "The board had five investigators to police nearly 10,000 doctors," Musgrave reports. Stumbo said the understaffing issue could be solved by raising licensing fees and assessment prices on doctors.
Board members said they will return to committee in December with suggestions for how the state can better police doctors' prescription practices.
Data show drug overdoses is the leading cause of death for some age groups in Kentucky. Federal statistics show 6.5 percent of Kentuckians have abused prescription drugs. (Read more)
- Medical Licensure Board Changing Rules To Focus More On Painkillers; Fewer Urine Tests For Patients, Fewer Reports For Doctors
Patients in long-term treatment with controlled substances won't have to have their urine tested for drugs unless they are on painkillers, and doctors will have wide discretion over how often to do the tests, under new rules being drafted by the Kentucky...
- Beshear Oks Prescription Bill, Telling Pill Mills, 'get Out Of This State'
Saying it couldn't get to his desk quickly enough, Gov. Steve Beshear signed a bill aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse in celebration today, warning so-called pill mills to "Get out of this state, because we're coming after you." House Bill...
- In Bipartisan Way, Political Leaders Push Passage Of 'pill Mill' Bill
A bipartisan group of political leaders issued a call today "to pass a bill that will help the state battle one of its most significant threats ? prescription drug abuse," a press release from Gov. Steve Beshear's office said. Beshear, Attorney General...
- Stumbo Bill Aims To Attack Prescription Abuse On All Fronts
House Speaker Greg Stumbo filed a comprehensive bill Thursday aimed at attacking the state's prescription drug problem on all sides, namely taking the data already collected from the 11 million prescriptions dispensed in the state and putting them...
- State Officials Step Up Efforts Against Prescription Drug Abuse, Targeting Doctors
By Tara Kaprowy and Al Cross Kentucky Health News LEXINGTON ? Targeting what Gov. Steve Beshear called "drug dealers in white coats" is the goal of a new effort against prescription drug abuse in Kentucky, which is killing more Kentuckians than traffic...