The AMA joined the Indiana State Medical Association in seeking clarification from the state medical licensing board whether existing patients with chronic pain can be evaluated via telephone-only communication to satisfy state-specific controlled substances prescribing rules.
The new flexibility “may have been satisfied by Executive Orders (EO) 20-12 and 20-13, but we seek clarification – along with the Indiana State Medical Association – as to whether those EOs specifically supersede 844 Indiana Administrative Code 5-6-6,” wrote AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James L. Madara, MD, in a letter to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board (MLB).
Dr. Madara also encouraged the Indiana MLB to “adopt, in full, guidance provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to help ensure patients with pain receive the medications they need while simultaneously helping support public health measures to protect patient safety, reduce unnecessary travel and potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus.” This includes urging the MLB to allow for “multiple prescriptions authorizing the patient to receive a total of up to a 90-day supply of a Schedule II controlled substance, subject to specific conditions being met.”
If you have specific examples of states/institutions taking action to help patients with chronic pain, please consider it sharing it with the AMA. Information can be sent to daniel.blaney-koen@ama-assn.org.