Just....that link does not work...It takes you to the Maine.gov website but it shows an error for the link itself...
I think there has to be more to the story.
Many states are requiring non certified Pain Management Drs. to get new and ongoing certification to prescribe narcotics...
So...many PCPs or Internist, or non PM Drs. are deciding to refer their patients elsewhere or tell them that they can no longer prescribe narcotics..
This does not mean that in the the state of Maine...with Medicare/Mainecare that no patient is allowed to be on narcotics...Maincare/Medicaid is a federal/state run program that is just like all the other Medicaid programs in all the other states.
There are too many in hospice..or cancer patients, or all those who have had surgery, or even many of us who have chronic pain etc...that require narcotics..
Justanotherday...after surgery....a surgeon is normally only allowed to prescribe narcotics for a certain period of time. This is for "acute" pain. But if it moves to "chronic" pain after a few months....then they have to refer you elsewhere.
This is happening everywhere in the US little by little based on state legislation.
Their reasoning is that just like a surgeon...you have to have extra training, schooling, and certification to perform surgery. As in, our Primary Dr. is not going to do brain surgery on us LOL.
Now, any Dr. with a DEA number can prescribe narcotics.
So they are now wanting other non PM Drs. to "specialize" in handling pain both acute and chronic and the prescribing of narcotics/opiates if they want to continue doing so. They will have to prove to the DEA that they have done the appropriate training and update this yearly.
PM Drs. have years of training in this. It's also about providing compreshensive plans to use many modalities to help someone's pain and not just medication...*Yes...there are some PM's that do not do medications....this is important to know before going to one.
The DEA working with the states are also having more strict standards on who can be prescribed narcotics as in the PM Dr. needs to be monitoring things more closely and put in the greatest detail of why the patient needs them.
The sad part is that because of so many people abusing narcotics, along with too many Drs. giving them out too freely....I remember 20 plus years ago when the standard was Percocet 5mg for everything and only a week or two...I had broken bones...or surgeries....etc...And that was what you were prescribed...
So it's terrible timing with more diseases that cause chronic pain like Fibromyalgia, or the amount of baby boomers and people with chronic pain with spine issues...knee problems...arthritis...etc. that require some type of pain management....
This was not as prevalant 20, 25 plus years ago..
Anyway....This is all from everything I have read/studies and talked with my PM about.
If I am specifically wrong about Mainecare and there is a link I can read straight from the government website that says narcotics will no longer be prescribed to anyone in Maine with Medicaid which is a federal program that is run by each state....than I apologize..
Post Edited (Snowbunny21) : 6/13/2012 8:33:14 AM (GMT-6)