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New opioid guidance emerges in Massachusetts
05/22/2015
This week, the Massachusetts Medical Society adopted a statewide campaign for doctors and patients aimed at reducing opioid abuse and addiction.
The society’s president, Dennis Dimitri, MD, said in his blog announcing the program, “Physicians must step forward immediately to do everything we can to help bring this devastating problem under control.”
The campaign has three components:
- Prescriber guidelines, which include setting expectations for treatment with patients and discussing patient history
- Free education resources for prescribers, which include a new selection of pain management courses
- Public outreach, which includes drug storage and disposal information for patients and their families
Earlier this year, Gov. Charlie Baker—a former health insurance plan CEO—named a 16-member task force to create a strategy for addressing addiction in the state.
