Contact: Richard Gulla
781-434-7101
rgulla@mms.org
Reducing Unused Medications Act is part of Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), a Congressional response to the opioid crisis
Waltham, Mass. – July 14 – The president of the Massachusetts Medical Society today said Congress has taken a significant step forward in the battle against opioids and prescription drug abuse with the passage by the Senate yesterday of the
Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). The House had previously passed the bill, and President Obama has indicated he will sign it into law.
CARA incorporates several pieces of legislation including one – the
Reducing Unused Medications Act – that allows for the “partial-fill” prescriptions of opioids.
The bipartisan bills on partial-fill prescriptions were originally co-sponsored by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Katherine Clark, and the provision for partial-fill prescriptions was one
Massachusetts physicians had aggressively supported.
Medical Society President James S. Gessner, M.D., said “we applaud and thank Senator Warren and Congresswoman Clark for their support and leadership on fighting the opioid epidemic. The ability of physicians to write partial-fill prescriptions will help to reduce the amount of unused pain medicines, thereby limiting the number of drugs that can be diverted.”
Estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control indicate that the majority of individuals – up to 70 percent – who misuse or abuse pain medications get them from prescriptions written for friends or family – commonly described as diversion.
Dr. Gessner said the Medical Society had been advocating for partial-fill prescriptions because they would help patients balance the need to relieve pain with an adequate supply of medication by only filling part of the prescription. Should they need additional pain relief, he said, patients will be able to return to the pharmacy to fill the remaining portion of their prescription. With few exceptions, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration regulations had previously prevented partial-fill prescriptions; this new provision contained in CARA will allow states to pass legislation for partial-fill prescriptions.
“Physicians have recognized that in their efforts to reduce patients’ pain, too many prescriptions have been written,” said Dr. Gessner. “This overprescribing has led to the diversion of medications, which has contributed to the misuse and abuse of these powerful medicines.”
While he commended the passage of CARA, Dr. Gessner at the same time expressed concern over the legislation’s shortfall in funding other important efforts to combat the crisis.
“Physicians will work with our congressional delegation,” Dr. Gessner said, “to advocate for funding these critical programs. Efforts at treatment and prevention must be adequately funded if we are to be successful in addressing this public health crisis.”
Dr. Gessner noted that many of the provisions in CARA were championed by the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, including those to increase access to the medically life-saving therapies of naloxone and buprenorphine, programs to help infants and veterans, and the reauthorization of the
National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act (NASPER), which provides for prescription monitoring programs.
Medical Society President James S. Gessner M.D. said “we applaud and thank all members of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation for their leadership and support in fighting the opioid abuse epidemic. We also note the leadership of Senator Edward Markey, whose efforts helped to raise the limit on the number of patients who can be treated with buprenorphine – an essential element in the treatment phase of attacking the opioid epidemic – which was addressed in a recent administrative action.”
The Massachusetts Medical Society has been one of the leading health organizations in the Commonwealth addressing the opioid crisis. It has created prescribing guidelines for physicians,engaged in public information campaigns for patients on the safe storage and disposal of prescription medications, and offered free educational courses for all prescribers. According to the Society, more than 5,200 prescribers have taken more than 15,000 of its continuing medical educational courses on opioids and pain management since being offered free beginning in May of 2015. Dr. Gessner said such efforts, particularly prescriber education, have helped to reduce the number of opioid prescriptions significantly over the last year and a half in the state.
The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 25,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society, under the auspices of NEJM Group, publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch alerts and newsletters covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education providing accredited and certified activities across the globe for physicians and other health care professionals. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. For more information please visit www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org, or www.jwatch.org.
