Oklahoma City -
The Oklahoma House Public Safety
Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require doctors to monitor drug usage for new patients.
It's an effort to crack down on legally prescribed-drug related deaths in the state that ranks #1 in the nation for prescription drug usage per capita.
House Bill 2574 essentially requires physicians to use the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Prescription Monitoring program when they prescribe a controlled dangerous substance.
Essentially, it would force doctors to see what other prescriptions a new patient has been given by other doctors. The bill also requires physicians to check each year for all patients.
"Under this bill, in the initial visit for a new
patient, if a doctor is going to prescribe a controlled dangerous substance, he
will have to check the prescription monitoring program to ensure the patient is
not ‘doctor shopping' or has a prescription drug abuse
problem," said .
"Basically the online program
allows doctors to see exactly what has been prescribed to their patient in the
past. It's an underused resource that could do wonders for some of the
prescription abuse problems we see here in Oklahoma," said state Rep. Pat Ownbey (R-Ardmore)
Oklahoma
uses about 120 million dosage units of hydracodone each year, according to the
Centers for Disease Control.
Oklahoma Bureau of
Narcotics Director R. Darrell Weaver said Oklahoma has a severe prescription drug
problem and doctors must intervene.
"It's a silent cancer. We have seen a 108
percent increase in drug overdose deaths since 2001. What we've seen is
that 80 percent of those deaths are due to prescription drugs, not illicit
drugs," Weaver said.
"Oklahoma
needs to do what we can to intervene. These deaths are unnecessary. We believe
doctors can get on our online site and help stop this epidemic of drug abuse."
House Bill 2574 now heads to the House floor for consideration.
