Georgia Institutes New Pain Clinic Rules to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has signed a law that requires
pain clinics to be licensed by the state medical board, and new clinics
to be owned by physicians. The measure is designed to reduce
prescription drug abuse, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The law,
which goes into effect July 1, states pain clinics must register every
two years or face possible felony indictments. Georgia’s medical board
can deny licensing to a pain clinic for reasons including the owner’s
prior criminal conviction related to controlled substances, the article
notes.
The number of pain clinics jumped in Georgia from 10 in 2010, to 140
the following year, after Florida cracked down on its own “pill mills.”
Georgia is the ninth state to require that pain clinics be doctor-owned.
Alabama and Indiana are considering similar measures.
Georgia’s prescription-drug monitoring program, aimed at catching
people who obtain pain prescriptions from multiple physicians (known as
“doctor shopping”), will launch in mid-June. Funding for the program is
not guaranteed past this fall, the newspaper states.
In March, a report issued by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
found the number of deaths due to oxycodone decreased by 29 percent in
the state in the first six months of 2012, compared with the second half
of the previous year. The report provides evidence Florida is
successfully fighting the prescription drug abuse epidemic, officials
said.
