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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2022)
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2022 A3 LOCAL, STATE & REGION Still no requirement for Oregon doctors to check on opioid prescription history Report: Only 4 of 12 recommendations from state audit have been implemented BY FEDOR ZARKHIN The Oregonian Oregon has failed to make key changes intended to re- duce improper opioid pre- scriptions, the Secretary of State’s Office said Wednesday in a follow-up report to a 2018 audit that identified a host of problems with the state’s use of a database tracking prescrip- tions of addictive medications. Only four of the auditors’ 12 recommendations have been fully implemented, accord- ing to the report. The Oregon Health Authority, which over- sees the state’s drug monitor- ing program, told auditors most of the changes required legislative action but an in- fluential lawmaker said the agency never asked her for help. “That’s why we’re here to- day — to call on the state leg- islators to pass the bills and the Oregon Health Authority to fully implement the re- maining recommendations in this audit as soon as possi- ble,” Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said at a news briefing Wednesday. “Literally lives de- pend on it.” Yet it’s unclear what action, if any, the Oregon Health Au- thority took in the 3½ years since the initial audit’s release to lobby lawmakers for recom- mended changes. Responding to questions from The Oregonian on Wednesday, the agency did not provide examples of re- quests it made to lawmakers nor did it say why it could not enact audit recommendations through changes in admin- istrative rules. The agency indicated it lacked the statu- tory authority to set certain requirements and legislators must change state law to give it those powers. “OHA appreciates that the Secretary of State auditors identified additional areas of improvement. However, many of the recommendations fall outside of the scope of OHA and require additional leg- islative changes,” the health authority said in a statement. “The agency looks forward to working with the Oregon Leg- islature as potential statutory changes are considered in fu- ture sessions.” The most recent chair of the Senate Health Care Com- mittee, Sen. Deborah Patter- son, D-Salem, said the health authority never approached her about the recommended changes to the law surround- ing the prescription drug monitoring program. “I can definitely say that, no, they have not talked to me about anything related to that,” said Patterson, who has chaired the committee since the 2021 regular session. Oregon is one of less than 10 states that does not require all opioid prescribers to check a state database for suspi- cious activity, such as doctor shopping, before writing a prescription, according to the Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin file Participants in the Walk for Recovery, an addiction support and re- covery event, make their way through downtown Bend on Sept. 7, 2019. In a follow-up audit, the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office says the state has failed to make changes to help reduce improper opioid prescriptions. 2018 audit. Since late 2021, providers have had to check the database before prescrib- ing drugs only to Medicaid patients. That was one of a dozen shortcomings the Secretary of State identified in its 2018 audit of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, a data- base that is meant to track ev- ery prescription of medicines that can be abused. Since then, the state has acted on some of the original audit’s recom- mendations, including putting together “report cards” analyz- ing prescription trends among prescribers and clinics and helping clinics become more familiar with the prescription drug database. But the state has not taken the bulk of the most import- ant actions, including mandat- ing that all prescribers actually use the database, pursuing changes in the law that would force prescribers to register with the drug monitoring pro- gram and penalizing pharma- cies that input incorrect infor- mation. The opioid epidemic was initially fueled by prescription painkillers, originally billed as safe, yet found to be highly ad- dictive. That has led to today’s heroin and fentanyl epidemic. Fagan drew a straight line from the problems it wants fixed to the opioid epidemic that, according to the health authority, kills five Oregonians a week. “These are not statistics. These are not just numbers,” Fagan said. “These are people.” As awareness about opioid abuse has grown, government agencies have cracked down on pain pill prescriptions and taken the companies making and selling them to court. Na- tionally and in Oregon, opioid prescriptions have dropped. Unintentional prescription drug overdoses in the state have fallen in the last six years, even as overdoses from other opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl, have climbed dra- matically. But Oregon is an outlier nationally, with the highest reported rate of prescription pain killer misuse of any state, according to the most recent federal recent data. One component of the mul- tipronged effort nationally to cut down on inappropriate opioid prescriptions has been the Prescription Drug Moni- toring Program. But that sys- tem only works if everyone who prescribes the medicines uses the database. Gov. Kate Brown’s 2019-21 state budget said the health authority supported the 2018 audit recommendations and would “await direction” from the Legislature, noting that routine use of the database “is important for reducing opioid prescribing.” Two years later, in Brown’s 2021-23 budget, the agency said it was “prepared to pro- vide information and evidence to the legislature to support altering the Oregon law to re- quire mandatory use of the [prescription database] under certain circumstances.” According to Wednesday’s follow-up report, the health authority now “is actively using appropriate channels to recommend legislative changes” to ensure all pre- scribers be required to use the database. Kip Memmott, the Sec- retary of State’s Office audit director, said that as a large agency responding to the coronavirus pandemic, the health authority had “other legislative priorities.” “I think they’ve worked for- ward on the statutes as best as they feel they can,” Memmott said. In what Memmott said was a shift, the Secretary of State’s Office has now apparently started doing some of the lobbying work itself to help ensure use of the database becomes mandatory, among other recommended changes. Fagan said the agency’s legis- lative director has contacted lawmakers to ask if bills rele- vant to the audit will be intro- duced and who the “legisla- tive champions” would be for changes in the law. SIZZLING SUMMER SALE Hot Prices on Cool Furniture and Mattresses FREE DELIVERY & SPECIAL FINANCING AVAILABLE* *Subject to credit approval. See store for details 2071 S. Hwy 97, Redmond 541-548-2066 • www.wilsonsofredmond.net • 63485 N. Hwy 97, Bend 541-330-5084
