Kasich proposes new opioid rules

Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday announced new rules he said will help prevent chronic pain patients from becoming addicted to prescription painkillers (Source: “Gov. John Kasich proposes new opioid rules for chronic pain patients,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 2, 2018).

The new rules for chronic pain do not set limits on what can be dispensed. The rules call for doctors to re-evaluate patients' opioid use at periodic "safety checkpoints" when patients are increased larger doses of painkillers.

Physicians will look for signs of opioid misuse when patents are upped to 50, 80 and 120 morphine equivalent doses per day. About 97,000 Ohio patients were prescribed more than 50 MED in 2017, according to the Ohio Board of Pharmacy.

In April, HPIO released “Ohio Addiction Policy Inventory and Scorecard: Prevention, Treatment and Recovery,” which provides policymakers and other stakeholders with the information needed to take stock of Ohio’s policy response to the state’s addiction crisis by reviewing state-level policy changes enacted in Ohio from 2013-2017.