On March 31st, 2015, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed HB 1948 into law. The bill addresses the public health and safety issue of doctor shopping and the abuse of prescription drugs by requiring prescribers or their staff to access the prescription database prior to prescribing certain drugs.
HB 1948
House Bill 1948 requires Oklahoma doctors to check the new prescription drug database before they prescribe certain addictive drugs. Signed into law, it is scheduled to go into effect November 1st of this year.
The bill was authored by state Representative Doug Cox (R-Grove), and Senator A.J. Griffin (R-Guthrie). The Oklahoma Senate voted 35 to 10 in favor of the bill, the first Governor Fallin signed this legislative session. Fallin has made the prescription database requirement a priority for several years.
According to the Governor, the goal of HB 1948 is to stop doctor shopping in Oklahoma. Doctor shopping is the practice of drug users seeking prescription narcotics from multiple doctors. Fallin noted that more Oklahomans are dying from overdoses of prescription drugs each year than from car wrecks.
Addressing Oklahoma’s Problem of Prescription Drug Abuse
The State Department of Health reports the rate of drug overdose in Oklahoma increased by almost 400 percent in a span of 14 years—from 1999 to 2013. On a national level, Oklahoma ranks sixth in the nation for the highest rate of unintentional drug-related overdose death in the United States.
A prescription drug database already exists in Oklahoma, but other than the highly addictive narcotic drug methadone, doctor participation under existing law is voluntary.
Under HB 1948, physicians will be required to access the database prior to prescribing or refilling prescriptions of certain highly addictive drugs. The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs operates the prescription drug database that contains real-time data on patients and whether they are obtaining prescriptions from more than one doctor.
Recent years have seen similar proposals to make doctor participation in the use of the database mandatory, but the Oklahoma State Medical Association (OSMA) opposed the attempts. Opposition reportedly stemmed from a concern that such a bill would impose a new and unfunded mandate (official order or law stating that something must be done). OSMA since worked on a compromise with legislators, resulting in an endorsement of the bill passage.
According to Oklahoma State Medical Association President, Dr. Todd Brockman, the seriousness of the problem was recognized and physicians wanted to be part of the solution.
State Representative Doug Cox, one of the authors of the bill and a Grove, Oklahoma emergency room physician, noted that the drug monitoring data base has been expanded to include Arkansas and Kansas physicians; and the state of Missouri next-in-line for inclusion.
What it Means for Oklahoma
Oklahoma faces the harsh reality of out-of-control prescription drug abuse that has pushed its drug overdose death rate to 6th place in the United States.
Prescription drug abuse and addiction is not a new problem for Oklahoma. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the state exceeded the United States average for abuse and misuse of painkillers by a staggering 232 percent in 2007. It was an increase of 22 percent since 2004.
The overriding majority of Oklahomans abusing prescription painkillers do not purchase them from drug dealers on the street. Seventeen percent (nearly one-in-five) using prescription painkillers for nonmedical purposes were prescribed the drugs by a physician.
Seventy-two percent of those abusing prescription painkillers got the drugs from a relative or friend. Sixty percent abusing the drugs were given them for free. A small percentage—only 4 percent—bought the prescription drugs of abuse from a drug dealer.
According to The Oklahoman, many prescription painkiller addicts are middle-class and middle-aged Oklahomans who began taking the pain pills for a legitimate reason, not knowing the risks of addiction or death by overdose.
In addition to terrible toll on lives, the yearly cost of unintentional prescription drug poisonings in Oklahoma exceeds $40 million dollars.
The implementation of HB 1948 into law will likely prove to be an effective effort to curtail prescription drug abuse. At the same time, the implementation of comprehensive drug prevention education is vital, both for Oklahoma prescribers and Oklahomans.
The root of the problem begins sooner and runs deeper than monitoring doctor shopping by those who have already fallen prey to the highly addictive prescription painkillers. The high risk of prescription painkiller addiction and overdose death must be known before the drugs are prescribed, and before a person accepts the prescription.
Worthy of note is that Oklahoma ranks 44th in the nation for health. Perhaps increasing Oklahomans’ health could diminish the need for prescription drugs in the first place.
