FRANKFORT —
Gov. Steve Beshear said Tuesday the new law cracking down on overprescribing of painkilling drugs, which went into effect Friday, has already led four pain management clinics to inform the state they cannot continue to operate under the new law.
Beshear held a press conference with Attorney General Jack Conway to hail the law. They were surrounded by representatives of six medical licensure boards and associations, even though some of those associations’ members have expressed concerns with the new law.
Beshear said the bill is “driving out of business those who would destroy our communities with their greed and their recklessness.
“We can’t at this point” identify the clinics, Beshear said, “because we want to make sure there’s final action before we identify anybody.”
But Conway said two of the four “had past experiences with law enforcement, and I’ll leave it at that.”
In addition to the four clinics, Beshear said another nine clinics have not applied for licenses under requirements of the new law and “will be investigated to see if they are operating legally.”
The bill requires such clinics to be owned and supervised by licensed physicians. It does allow those operating legally before April 2012 to continue operating even if they aren’t owned by physicians. The law also requires prescribers and dispensers of several Schedule II and III drugs and 15 specific Schedule IV drugs to be reported to the states electronic tracking system known as KASPER.
Reiterating what cabinet officials said Monday before a legislative committee set up to oversee implementation of the new law, Beshear said the registrants with KASPER have more than doubled since the law went into effect.
Beshear was asked about complaints from doctors that the KASPER computer system crashed over the weekend. That was because of “an unprecedented run by folks trying to get registered and it caused it to go down,” Beshear said.
He said, however, when the system does go down, physicians can “use their best medical judgment and go ahead and prescribe the medicine so folks will not be denied the medicine they need.”
Several physicians and some advocates for health care complain the regulations written to comply with the law are burdensome and time-consuming and go beyond the intent of the law. But Beshear and Conway said the law is written to combat the epidemic prescription drug abuse in Kentucky and will not unduly penalize legitimate medical needs or patients.
Conway said a 2010 poll of physicians who then utilized KASPER found 94 percent of the doctors thought the system effective and helpful. Beshear said the “innocent have nothing to fear” from the new law.
But he added the public must realize the scope of the problem: 219 million doses of Hydrocodone were prescribed in Kentucky last year, enough Beshear said to provide “51 doses for every man, woman and child in Kentucky.”
Beshear said the KASPER system, currently housed in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, will not be moved to the office of the Attorney General — at least “at this time.” Originally, the bill’s sponsor, Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo wanted to move the system to that office.
Conway said he has signed memoranda of understanding with all the medical licensure boards, the cabinet and law enforcement agencies to share any investigations of medical providers under the new law.
He also said Kentucky is working with other states to share data so prescriptions for the pain killers can be tracked to prevent people from “doctor shopping” across state lines.
RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.
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