Shared opioid approach
September 7, 2015
An online authority system for
prescribing of opioids would help
reduce the regulatory burden of
Authority Required scripts, but any
changes to the system should not
make it easier for patients to obtain
the drugs, according to an opioids
roundtable held earlier this year.
The outcomes statement from
the meeting was made public on
the PBS website on Fri, as part of a
review of the PBS Authority System
which aims to improve patient
safety and care by reducing red tape.
About 30% of telephoned
authority requests to Medicare - or
1.8 million calls per year - are for
increased quantities and/or repeats
of eight opioids - representing a
substantial regulatory burden.
The roundtable in May concluded
that patients should be looked after
under a comprehensive treatment
plan with multimodal pain
management strategies.
“Better system pathways
and linkages between health
professionals are needed
to facilitate this shared care
approach,” the statement said.
Real-time script monitoring
systems are an “excellent tool to
support quality use of opioids,” the
statement said, citing the success of
the system in Tasmania, adding that
“additional support may be needed
to allow all states and territories to
implement similar systems”.
For details see www.pbs.gov.au.
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