Opioid Laws Could Increase Business at Michigan Pain Management Clinics



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Dr. Alexander Ajlouni, who specializes in pain management, said that new laws aimed at combating opioid abuse can make sure that doctors treat more patients in clinics like his own. .

review the history of prescription drugs in the Michigan Automated Prescription System for any patient who is prescribed a supply of three or more days. It prevents patients from shopping and dangerously combining medications.

Ajlouni, associated with the McLaren Macomb Hospital in Mount Clemens, supports the new laws, but thinks that they can produce the unintended consequence of increasing the popularity of pain management clinics. He said some doctors do not want to cope with the extra work of MAPS research without additional compensation.

Many pain clinics are flooded because many doctors do not want to have to jump in hoops as the state wants them. to cross, said Aljouni. I think some of these things (the new laws) are an instinctive answer. You have taken away a lot of judgment from the doctors.

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Dr. Brett Bielawski, an internist associated with Beaumont Hospital in Troy, agreed that the new laws may produce this consequence, but emphasized that doctors must focus on their primary mission.

Everyone has to go back to basics.

The law requires the MAPS examination when a physician distributes the controlled substances of Annexes 2 to 5 in any quantity. It is part of a package of 11 bills passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Rick Snyder to try to combat the current crisis of opioid addiction, including the use of drugs. Analgesics and heroin and fentanyl.

The President of Families Against Narcotics, based in Fraser, said physicians who refer patients because of the new demands are evading their obligations.

Everyone was asking doctors to do their job, Davis said. You do not create a problem, then run it. This is not a way for doctors to stop being doctors.

Another major change is on Sunday limiting doctors to prescribe a patient with acute pain a seven-day supply in the seven-day period. Chronic pain clinics are not affected by this law.

Some laws came into effect on June 1 and others came into effect earlier this year or will become law next year. For example, health care providers are also required to counsel patients about the risks of opioids and fill out a form to talk about before prescribing opioids.

Davis, who is a judge at District Court 41B in Clinton Township, said that the progress made for a few years is crucial to fighting the opioid crisis that has resulted in a record number of overdoses of 39 opioids nationally and in Macomb County, while figures continued to increase in Oakland and Michigan.

Davis, also a 41B District Court Judge in Clinton Township

Protecting patients from addiction and the risk of overdose is the goal of all the reforms we have enacted, said the Governor of Michigan, Brian Calley, who was chairman of the Michigan Governors Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Task Force. By limiting exposure to potentially addictive drugs, we reduce the likelihood that someone will become addicted or potentially overdosed. These efforts also stimulate conversations between physicians and patients about how to treat acute pain in the safest and most effective way.

Bielawski, who operates a clinic in Rochester Hills, said that the MAPS requirement has opened many doctors.

He said that some patients unintentionally combined two prescriptions that create a toxic cocktail.

Combining some or all of these drugs can be deadly, he said. Many people do not know that combining Xanax and hydrocodon (an opioid) can cause an overdose.

MAPS is one of the many prevention tools used in our fight against the opioid epidemic, said Kim Gaedeke, deputy director of the Licensing Department. and Regulatory Affairs. The use of MAPS by prescribers and dispensers will give clinicians more robust analyzes and insight into the risk to patients of a possible addiction disorder or other health problems if a controlled substance is prescribed.

Ajlouni, who also practices in the St. Clair Shores and Shelby Township clinics, said when he started in pain management 25 years ago, about 10 to 15 percent of his patients were using opioids . Today, almost all new patients come to him and are already taking opioids for pain.

He spends a lot of time trying to get patients out of opioids and other methods to treat pain, including over-the-counter medications. treatment, spinal stimulation, steroid injection, exercise and physical.

He made my practice a lot less fun, he said. In some ways, I am like a prison guard. Now, I'm the bad cop. I pee the patients in a cup. I question them.

But he said that it was worth it because of the results since he is able to get about a third of the opioids.

Over time, I can reduce their opioid addiction, but that means a lot of hand holding. He said a lot of work had to be done. We Americans are always looking for a quick fix (with opioids). But there are many better options for managing chronic pain than opioids.

For more information on MAPS, visit Michigan.gov/MiMAPSInfo.

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