Florida House Approves Prescription Limits in Opioid Fight
While the sponsor acknowledged the bill won't solve the state's problem with opioid abuse, the House unanimously passed a measure that includes imposing prescription limits.
March 02, 2018 at 04:15 PM
5 minute read
While the sponsor acknowledged the bill won't solve the state's problem with opioid abuse, the House unanimously passed a measure that includes imposing prescription limits.
“I don't think it [the problem] is going to completely go away, but I think this is a way for us to fight back,” Rep. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, said Thursday as he finished presenting his bill (HB 21) to the House.
The bill, in part, would limit opioid prescriptions to three-day supplies, though seven-day supplies would be allowed if deemed medically necessary by physicians. The restrictions wouldn't apply to patients suffering pain related to cancer, terminal illness, palliative care or serious traumatic injuries.
The goal is to help prevent people from getting hooked on prescription opioids, which can lead to turning to street drugs such as heroin and fentanyl.
Physician groups have had concerns with the bill and the prescription limits.
Rep Julio Gonzalez, a Venice Republican who is an orthopedic surgeon, warned Thursday that the limitations would be too restrictive for some patients and that 10 days may be more appropriate for people who have had major surgery or who have suffered major trauma.
But Boyd told the stories of two people he knows who underwent surgery. One person had complete knee reconstruction and walked out of the facility with a walker hours later. He had a follow-up four days later, Boyd said.
Another friend of Boyd was treated for a heart-valve replacement and an aneurysm repair. Boyd said his friend took Tylenol for three days in the interim between being released and a follow-up visit.
In both instances, Boyd said, the men were given 90-day prescriptions for opioids to relieve the pain.
“We are not trying to be doctors,” Boyd said, addressing Gonzalez's criticism. “We are not trying to tell doctors how to do what they do, because they are the professionals. But I think there's a little bit of work that needs to be done communicating, that with this horrible problem, we need to take dramatic steps to try to fix it.”
Opioid addiction and overdoses are now the leading accidental cause of death in the U.S. According to research, 80 percent of heroin users first abused prescription drugs, whether their own drugs or someone else's supply. Other studies show that a patient's chances of addiction increase as the number of days a first prescription for opioids lengthens.
The data has spurred state lawmakers to focus not only on treating drug users but on trying to keep patients from getting hooked in the first place.
To ensure that patients aren't “doctor shopping,” or seeking prescriptions for addictive drugs from multiple physicians, the bill also would require physicians to consult a statewide database before prescribing or dispensing controlled substances, something many physicians have been reluctant to do. Only about 27 percent of Florida health care providers authorized to prescribe controlled substances currently use the database, known as the prescription drug monitoring program.
The bill includes accommodations if the database is down or if there are electrical or technical issues. But in such instances, physicians would be required to document information in patient medical records and would be limited to prescribing three-day supplies or less of pain relievers.
The bill also would authorize the Department of Health to share and exchange database information with other states and would authorize the database to interface with electronic health systems used by health care practitioners and facilities.
Lawmakers have directed about $1 million for improvements to the prescription drug monitoring program, but Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, worried that the funding may not be enough to ensure that the database properly interfaces with electronic health systems used by physicians.
Harrell, who is married to a physician, said she shared Gonzalez's concerns that the restrictions may go too far.
“I think the 10 days seems much more reasonable,” she said.
A Senate version of the bill (SB 8) is ready to be heard by the full Senate.
But the House and Senate bills have differences. Among other things, the Senate bill would not allow exclusions from the prescription restrictions for cancer patients, trauma patients and the terminally ill.
Boyd, who will leave the House this fall because of term limits, said the bill would help in the fight against opioid abuse but said he knows it won't fix the problem.
“I'll be gone next year but I hope that others of you will take up the fight and take the next steps to fight this problem, because I don't think it's going to completely go away,” he said.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'Disease-Causing Bacteria': Colgate and Tom’s of Maine Face Toothpaste Class Action
3 minute readFlorida-Based Law Firms Start to Lag, As New York Takes a Bigger Piece of Deals
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Cars Reach Record Fuel Economy but Largely Fail to Meet Biden's EPA Standard, Agency Says
- 2How Cybercriminals Exploit Law Firms’ Holiday Vulnerabilities
- 3DOJ Asks 5th Circuit to Publish Opinion Upholding Gun Ban for Felon
- 4GEO Group Sued Over 2 Wrongful Deaths
- 5Revenue Up at Homegrown Texas Firms Through Q3, Though Demand Slipped Slightly
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250