Kasich announces new pain prescribing limits

Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced on Thursday new limits on prescribing painkillers, the latest move in the state’s ongoing effort to fight a worsening drug addiction epidemic (Source: “Ohio Gov. John Kasich announces new limits on pain prescribing,” Associated Press via (Lorain) Morning Journal, March 30, 2017).

The governor, joined by lawmakers and officials with Ohio health licensing boards, outlined the new restrictions that include barring doctors from prescribing more than seven days of narcotic pain pills for adults and no more than five days for minors.

Officials say the new prescribing limits apply to acute pain patients and could reduce the number of addictive pills dispensed in Ohio by 109 million annually.

Health care providers can prescribe opiates above the new limits to patients experiencing acute pain, but only if they provide a specific reason in a patient’s medical record. The limits don’t apply to cancer, hospice or addiction patients. The new rules also require doctors to include a diagnosis or procedure code on every prescription for a controlled substance. The code will be entered into Ohio’s prescription monitoring program.