“Resist today, resist tomorrow, resist daily!”
Third-party-administrators, special interests, federal and state legislators and oversight agencies are rushing to try to enact draconian policies across the United States to restrict patient access to opioids as a viable treatment option for primary and pain management physicians for acute, chronic and intractable pain without sufficient evidence.
In addition, there is a rush to “sue big pharma for billions not millions,” although it is becoming increasingly clear that many overdose deaths have been attributed to illegal synthetic Fentanyl analogs flooding over the United States border.
Yet, opioid zealots continue to push an anti-opioid agenda, even if overdose deaths are being heavily attributed to illicit, illegal fentanyl, regardless of the negative impact to patients.
Synthetic analogs currently remain available for purchase from international labs online in China, and illicit, illegal fentanyl analogs are flooding over the border from Mexico and Canada.
Studies are beginning to reflect that polypharmacy, not prescribed opioids for patients with corresponding diagnosis, are the culprit for the current onslaught overdose deaths.This leaves the anti-opioid zealots with a lesser rationale for their platforms, that’s frequently based solely on a profit driven agenda- not patient-centric philosophy.
Regardless of the emerging facts, tighter healthcare policy for prescribed opioid restrictions are being fueled by third-party-administrators (insurance companies), oversight agencies and special interests essentially without sufficient research, justification or they are utilizing conflated and flawed data.
Fear mongering and propaganda complete with over dramatic videos are also being utilized by some anti-opioid advocacy groups to manufacture public consent in many cases.
The current research is thought be flawed, or questionable. There have been major assumptions or misrepresentations made about a subject that is deeply complex and affecting millions of patients.
In some cases, in true Center for Disease tradition -the books are essentially cooked.
STATES CONFRONT OPIOID OVERDOSE EPIDEMIC
See how laws are being set across the country to limit access to opiods per National Conference of State Legislatures who report:
“Legislation limiting opioid prescriptions debuted early in 2016, with Massachusetts passing the first law in the nation. Among other provisions in the comprehensive act, the state set a seven-day supply limit for initial (first-time) opioid prescriptions. Prior to Massachusetts’ law, some states had passed bills related to prescribing, such as Washington’s legislation directing five professional boards and commissions to adopt rules related to chronic, non-cancer pain management, but none had set such a short time limit in statute.
By the end of 2016, seven states had passed legislation limiting opioid prescriptions, and the trend continued in 2017. More than 30 states considered at least 130 bills related to opioid prescribing in 2016 and 2017. According to NCSL’s tracking, 28 states had enacted legislation with some type of limit, guidance or requirement related to opioid prescribing by early April 2018.”
This means that the pain community will need to step up their efforts in the 2020 election year to demand change from the driving forces behind our politicians and oversight agencies.
Namely, special interests.
In 2019, Medicare and Medicaid are attempting additional restrictive opioid policy.
It will be up to the pain community to stand up and make their voices heard with federal and state level legislators.
Luckily, we have some online tools to help us be informed about each of our individual states, and we also have collaborative tools that we can utilize to make sure we are heard!
Our Cause
Our cause will likely be fought state by state, and federal legislators are saying there needs to be an overwhelming response from our community, both federally and on a state level, to effectively change the course we are currently on.
We all need to prepare accordingly as advocates and voters. Here are some additional resources to review and prepare.
Please consider using these tools to create a template to reach out to your state and federal legislators to restore individualized, appropriate, effective medical care to pain patients.
For more information and useful tools please check out our online Resource page!
We hope to see all of you online to raise public awareness about this complex issue and dialogue for change with policy makers, third-party-administrators and special interests.