Oklahoma City, OK – Gov. Mary Fallin recently thanked members of the Oklahoma Senate Health and Human Services Committee for passing a bill that would require doctors to check the state’s online prescription monitoring program before prescribing a narcotic.
Committee members voted 8-0 Monday to pass Senate Bill 1821. The measure, authored by Sen. A.J. Griffin, now goes to the full Senate.
“Currently, 81 percent of drug-related deaths in Oklahoma are caused by prescription drugs,” said Fallin. “One survey shows that nearly 8 percent of Oklahomans are abusing prescription painkillers. That is twice the national average, and it is unacceptable. The effects of statistics like these are tragic and when left unaddressed we see broken homes, higher incarceration rates, kids left without parents, poverty, child abuse, neglect and suicide.
“My thanks to Senator A.J. Griffin for her hard work on this legislation and her continued efforts to get this measure passed.”
The governor last year signed legislation that provided for real-time reporting to physicians by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control when prescriptions are filled by licensed pharmacists. Its intent is to address fraud and the practice of “doctor shopping.”
But not all medical practitioners are using the program, law officials say.
SB 1821 would require medical practitioners or members of their medical or administrative staff to check information in the prescription monitoring program before prescribing or re-filling narcotics. The measure also would allow medical practitioners and their staff in Oklahoma who are employed by the federal government to have access to the state’s prescription monitoring program.
Source: OK Governor’s Office