Legislative MessageDecember 2019
Dear TCEP member, Advocacy works. A hot topic of change in our practice revolves around the Texas PMP, and we’d like to spend some time in this newsletter addressing mandatory PMP checks. You may have recently received an email from Texas PMP AWARxE, which states: “REMINDER: Beginning March 1, 2020, pharmacists and prescribers will be required to check a patient’s Texas Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) history before dispensing or prescribing opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, or carisoprodol.” The Texas Medical Board (TMB), which is the regulatory agency that will enforce this mandate, recently published new guidance on requirements to check the PMP. This document is an update from previous guidance, and is the direct result of the input from TCEP and other physician specialties during a stakeholder meeting on February 18, where TCEP’s government relations team, along with TLAF fellow Dr. Laura Haselden and TCEP member Dr. Drew Weston, testified to voice issues that are concerning to emergency physicians. Importantly, we strongly advocated that the mandate was intended only to apply when we prescribe the listed controlled substances, and not for every patient encounter in which a controlled substance is administered during emergency care. Following the stakeholder meeting, the TMB will publish proposed rules (currently slated for March 2020). Next, there will be a formal comment period during which the public will be invited to comment on the proposed rules – this period can be anywhere from 30 to 90 days. Finally, the TMB will vote to approve the rules, at which time the mandate will become enforceable. In the meantime, TCEP board member Dr. AJ Kirk continues to serve on the state’s PMP Advisory Council, a position that will keep emergency physicians at the table as PMP integration takes statewide. The TMB valued input from physicians in a poignant example of the importance of supporting our organized advocacy efforts. We are grateful to our lobbyists, who have worked relentlessly even on days when PMP checks were not a hot topic. TCEP’s government relations team will continue to work diligently with our state agencies and legislature in each step of the rule-making process to protect our patients during every minute that we spend caring for them in the emergency department. So what can you do? We encourage you to use this as a reminder to support the hard work that TCEP is doing on behalf of all Texas emergency physicians. The two best ways that you can help are by donating to our political action committee (https://www.texacep.org/empact), and more importantly, by urging fellow emergency physicians to become TCEP members. Sincerely, Theresa Q. Tran, MD, MBA, FACEP Jada Roe, MD, FACEP Chaethana Yalamanchili, MD |
