NBC featured CPS’ Pharmacist-Driven Analgesia Improvement Stewardship (PAInS) Certificate Program on the Thursday December 12 evening newscast. The PAInS Certificate Program is a qualified continuing pharmacy education (CPE) program that is designed to educate CPS health system pharmacists on reducing opioid use in their hospital and health system facilities.
Memphis’ WMC5 - TV news team interviewed CPS’ Rod Recor, Chief Marketing Officer of Comprehensive Pharmacy Services, about the PAInS program.
“Almost all the states we work in have some sort of opioid issue going on,” said Recor. “More and more pharmacists are becoming part of care teams. In many of our hospital clients, we have care team approaches to delivering care.”
The PAInS program is a 20-hour training module with video lectures, written activities, and a practicum. The program is aimed at training pharmacists to limit opioid use and find other ways to treat chronic pain. Recor said the company just started their first class of participants.
“This stewardship program really goes to supporting those rules and legislation in Tennessee and other states as well,” he said.
According to the National Institutes of Health, as of January 2019, more than 130 people in the United States die every day after overdosing on opioids, including prescription pain relievers, heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, which includes the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment and criminal justice involvement.
The state of Tennessee tightened opioid prescribing rules in 2018 under a plan known as TN Together. Doctors can write a 3-day opioid prescription with no requirements before prescribing. But doctors may only issue a 10- or 20-day prescription after checking a state-controlled substance monitoring database (CSMD), explaining why an opioid was issued, and including a specific diagnosis. Doctors may only prescribe 30-day dosages for “medical necessity.”
Read the full story on the WMC5 website here.