January 29, 2021
Focus on the Opioid Laws That You Passed in 2019
TOA's Message for the 2021 Texas Legislature
354 Words | A 2-Minute Read
Opioids took center state in the 2019 Texas Legislature's health care agenda: The Texas Legislature passed over a dozen new laws related to the misuse of opioids. TOA served as medicine's stakeholder for the opioid negotiations in 2019, and lawmakers addressed TOA's concerns in the new laws.
Fast forward to 2021: A few state lawmakers want to pass additional laws related to opioids, including a measure that would create an informed consent mandate.
E-mail Your State Lawmakers
TOA's message for lawmakers is simple:
Physicians strive to seek alternatives before choosing an opioid to control pain. However, despite the use of multimodal pain protocols, an alternative to an opioid for a painful injury or surgery does not always exist. This is especially the case in orthopaedics for cases in which a patient may experience a high-energy fracture, such as a traumatic motor vehicle injury, or painful surgery. As a result, it may be critical for a patient to use an opioid on a short-term basis to control the pain.
TOA is cautioning the 2021 Texas Legislature to avoid ill-advised measures. In addition, your e-mail to lawmakers will ask lawmakers to once again include funding in the state's budget to purchase the Appriss Health PMP licenses to integrate into your EHR.
Click here to e-mail your state lawmakers about the need to focus on the implementation of the 2019 laws.
A Look at the 2019 Laws
Click here to view TOA's overview of the 2019 laws. TOA is sharing this document with lawmakers.
e-Prescribing Mandate
The state's new e-Prescribing mandate for controlled substances went into effect on January 1, 2021. Some physicians have requested waivers.
The state's mandate was set to mirror Medicare's little-known January 1, 2021, mandate. However, Medicare delayed its mandate as a result of the pandemic.
Texas' Opioid Education CME Requirement
TOA is offering a two-hour video at no cost to TOA members to fulfill the state's new CME mandate on prescribing opioids.
Click here to watch the video, complete the course evaluation, and receive your certificate, which also counts as an ethics hour. (Your TOA membership must be current to access it.)
