Geoff Oldfather: E-prescriptions could cut down on drug abuse
by Geoff Oldfather, TCPalm.com
May 8, 2007
TALLAHASSEE — It didn’t get a lot of attention, but a significant bill passed last week in Tallahassee will cut down on prescription drug abuse and deaths.It also provides safeguards for people who are prescribed multiple medications from different doctors and who might be taking medications that counteract or react badly with each other.
Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, has been pushing for the legislation for four years and said it’s a direct result of the case involving six patients of former Port St. Lucie Dr. Asuncion Luyao.The six patients died from overdoses of prescription pain medicines, including oxycodone. Luyao was convicted in March 2006 of manslaughter in the death of longtime patient Julia Hartsfield, as well as racketeering and five counts of trafficking in oxycodone.
In April 2006, she was sentenced to 50 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.3 million in fines on the trafficking charges.
“We learned that we have more people who die from abuse of prescription drugs than die from heroin and cocaine abuse combined,” Harrell said.
Harrell was the primary co-sponsor of the bill and introduced the original controlled substances version of the bill in 2003. She has been pushing for passage of the legislation ever since.
The bill relies on the growing use of “e-prescribing,” which allows a direct link between doctors and pharmacies and eliminates the need for paper prescriptions, which can often be forged.
Prescription drug abusers also often go to several different doctors to get multiple prescriptions of medications like oxycodone and use paper prescriptions at different pharmacies to hide the fact they’re getting more of the drug than should be prescribed.
The prescription drug legislation will make it much more difficult for people to get away with the practice, often called “doctor shopping.”
“It’s a portal to information for the doctors and the pharmacists through the private enterprise system and something that’s already being established,” Harrell said. “Doctors who ‘e-prescribe’ will be able to see what other medications other doctors might be prescribing and how much the patient is getting. It will be obvious immediately if someone is getting too much of a drug.
“And because a doctor can get the history of Ms. Jones’ or Gayle Harrell’s prescriptions, not just for controlled substances but for every prescription, they’ll know whether or not a prescription I’m taking from one physician is going to be counteracted by something I’m taking from another physician,” Harrell said.
One of the key parts of the bill is the incentive it gives doctors who move toward electronic prescribing.
“One way we’re encouraging physicians to do this is by waiving their re-licensing or renewal fees for two years if they get software that enables them to do this,” Harrell said.
“It’s important for people to know we’re not creating some kind of government database that violates people’s privacy. It’s using the private enterprise system and electronic health records to empower physicians with the patient’s permission,” Harrell said.
Without patient permission, doctors may refuse to prescribe medication, Harrell said.
It took four years for Harrell to see this legislation passed.
A lot of people will benefit because of her persistence.
Martin County columnist Geoff Oldfather can be reached at (772) 221-4217 or geoff.oldfather@scripps.com
