The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has released a new policy statement in favor of safeguarding access to opioids for hematology patients with chronic, severe pain as policymakers consider restrictions on opioid prescribing.
The statement is a recognition from ASH officials of the large number of opioid overdose deaths that involve prescription medication, and an acknowledgment that hematologists need to be advocates for their patients, said Joseph Alvarnas, MD, of City of Hope, Duarte, Calif.
Courtesy of City of Hope
Dr. Joseph Alvarnas
The scope of the opioid problem is significant and worsening. More than 200,000 people in the United States died from overdoses related to prescription opioids. And in 2016, about 46 people were dying every day from prescription opioid overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In October 2017, President Trump declared that the opioid crisis was a nationwide “public health emergency” and regulators with the Centers for Medicare % Medicaid Services have already put in place restrictions on opioid dosing through the Medicare Part D program.
In a rule finalized in April 2018, the CMS placed restrictions on the dosage of opioids available for chronic opioid users and limited the days’ supply for first-time opioid users. For chronic users, the CMS set a 90-morphine-milligram-equivalent (MME) per day limit that triggers pharmacist consultation with the prescriber. The agency instructed health plans to implement an “opioid care coordination edit” that would be triggered at 90 MME per day across all opioid prescriptions and would require pharmacists to contact prescribers to override for a higher dosage.
The entire exchange must be documented. The CMS instructed health plans in the Medicare Part D program to implement a “hard safety edit” that limits opioid prescription fills to no more than a 7-day supply for opioid-naive patients being treated for acute pain. The changes are set to take effect in January 2019.