IMPORTANT Announcement from NJ DIvision of Consumer Affairs re: Providers who prescribe opioids for the management of chronic pain
Posted about 5 years ago by Victoria Eftychiou
This announcement has 1 attachment:
Posted on behalf of Acting DIrector, Paul Rodriguez of NJ Division of Consumer Affairs:
Dear Licensee,
This email is to alert you to an emergency rule adopted on May 21, 2020, by the Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, requiring co-prescription of the opioid antidote naloxone under certain circumstances. This order applies to the following licensees:
- Physicians,
- Podiatrists,
- Physician Assistants,
- Certified Nurse Midwives,
- Dentists,
- Advanced Practice Nurses, and
- Optometrists.
These practitioners are required to co-prescribe naloxone to patients when continuously prescribing controlled dangerous substances for management of chronic pain under the following conditions:
- If the patient has one or more prescriptions totaling 90 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) or more per day; or
- If the patient is concurrently obtaining an opioid and a benzodiazepine.
The practitioner is also required to document the co-prescribing in the patient record.
This rule took effect on May 21, 2020, and will remain in effect for the duration of the state of emergency and public health emergency.
Prior to the adoption of this emergency rule, the Board of Medical Examiners proposed an identical rule which was published in the New Jersey Register on April 6, 2020. You may find the rule at 52 N.J.R. 676(a). The comment period for the proposed rule ends on June 5, 2020. The Boards of Dentistry, Nursing and Optometrists have all approved proposing a rule substantively identical to the rule proposed by the Board of Medical Examiners, but those proposals have not yet been published in the New Jersey Register.
The purpose of the emergency rule is to increase the availability of naloxone and reduce the risk of overdose death during the COVID-19 emergency. In addition, the anticipated adoption of the rule proposed by the Board of Medical Examiners, as well as the anticipated proposals by the other boards, will facilitate the continued availability of naloxone to at-risk patients when the COVID-19 emergency comes to a close. Co-prescribing of naloxone is broadly supported by national public health authorities, and mandatory co-prescribing will facilitate broader awareness of naloxone among at-risk patients.
For more information, please see the attached document.
Posted by: V. Eftychiou, APN
VP, Technology & Communications, FNAP/eNP