Health Quest’s governmental affairs director Tim Massie with Gillibrand
at the organization’s Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel
CARMEL – US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has introduced legislation that would limit an initial opioid prescription for acute pain to seven days. The senator came to Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel to make the announcement on Monday.
“Too many lives have been destroyed, too many families have been torn apart and too many communities all over New York are suffering because of this tragic epidemic,” Gillibrand said.
New York State already has a similar law in place. “Today marks a pivotal point in our continued fight against the heroin and opioid epidemic,” said state Senator Terrence Murphy. New York’s law “is being recognized as a national model that Senator Gillibrand is carrying and bringing further attention to this devastating epidemic.”
Under current federal law, a medical professional must register with the Drug Enforcement Agency to be allowed to prescribe a controlled substance. The registration must be renewed every three years.
Gillibrand’s proposal would require medical professionals to certify, as part of the DEA registration, that they will not prescribe opioid drugs as an initial treatment for acute pain in an amount that exceeds a seven-day supply, and may not provide a refill as part of that initial prescription.
The limit would not apply to the treatment of chronic pain, pain being treated as part of cancer care, hospice or other end of life care, pain treated as part of palliative care, or addiction treatment.
