New opioid tracker launches as crisis deepens in Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG — A database that tracks opioid prescriptions in hopes of turning up doctor-shopping addicts or physicians who over-prescribe pain pills is being widely welcomed.

But Pennsylvania lawmakers, doctors and drug treatment professionals say the monitor adds pressure on the state to get help for those cut off from their pain medicine.

Under the plan, doctors must submit information to the database the first time they prescribe opioids to a patient. The information is available for other doctors and pharmacists. In addition, state investigators will watch for deviations from normal patterns.

The system comes as Pennsylvania grapples with a drug crisis that claims twice as many lives as are lost in car crashes.

“This is the largest public health crisis I’ve seen in my career,” said Health Secretary Karen Murphy.

Deb Beck, president of the Drug and Alcohol Service Providers of Pennsylvania, agreed that the state is sinking into an opioid problem.

“We are in a mess here,” she said.

Other states already have similar drug-monitoring programs, said Rep. Bryan Barbin, D-Cambria County. People seeking illicit prescriptions are known to travel here from Ohio and West Virginia – which have databases, he said.

The Pennsylvania Medical Society lobbied for the monitoring system, said spokesman Chuck Moran, because so many doctors recognize the need.

“Good doctors shouldn’t have to worry. They’ll be able to defend their actions if an investigator is asking them questions,” he said.

“Also, good doctors won’t let this new system alter how they help their patients,” he said. “Patients in pain deserve compassion, and if an opioid is the best option for the patient, then you’ll see the physician prescribing.”

The problem with opioid addictions is severe — and growing.

Coroners reported 2,488 Pennsylvanians died from drug poisoning in 2014 — about seven people per day — compared to 1,195 people killed in car crashes.

State officials have repeatedly said the number of deaths is only increasing.

Stanching prescription drug abuse, they hope, will also stem the number of fatalities. At the same time, it will make life worse for addicts, Barbin said, unless the state up efforts to help them.

“If you’re not getting treatment, there’s going to be more people turning to heroin, and there’s going to be more deaths,” he said.

Most addicts don’t begin to use prescription drugs recreationally, said Dr. Robert Multari, a pain medicine specialist in Sharon.

Studies show that 4 of 5 opioid addicts suffer from chronic pain. Their addictions should be addressed as a disease, he said, “and not as a stigma.”

Doctor-shopping patients don’t visit as often as people think, Multari added.

“But it happens from time to time, and it puts everyone in jeopardy,” he said.

The opioid crisis follows years of government spending cuts that made treatment less available, he said.

This year, Gov. Tom Wolf is asking for $34 million in extra funding to launch 50 treatment facilities across the state. The so-called Centers for Excellence are meant to coordinate substance abuse treatment with care for mental and physical health issues.

Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas said the funding will spur another $18 million in federal dollars and ultimately provide the means to help more than 11,000 addicts.

“Treatment for opioid addiction is harder than other addictions,” said Dallas, who noted that existing strategies often fail.

The state is modeling its approach, he said, on practices in place in Vermont and a handful of other states.

Pennsylvania has already received 116 proposals from groups interested in operating the Centers for Excellence, he said.

Jeff Sheridan, a spokesman for Wolf, said the money for treatment is one of the governor’s priorities going into this month’s budget negotiations.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have also clamored for solutions to the problem of heroin and prescription drug addiction.

Dallas said the administration is “hopeful” that the centers will get funded.

While most observers welcome the state’s plan, some on the front-lines wonder if the added chore of feeding information into a database will be much help.

“It’s not a bad thing,” said Steven Mertz, pharmacist at the Norry Pharmacy in Northumberland. “It adds a level of bureaucracy.”

Mertz said his pharmacy had to hire someone to check prescriptions against the database.

He said he doubts that pharmacists will have time to use the information to spot questionable prescriptions.

“The doctors writing the prescriptions should be doing it,” he said.

John Finnerty covers the Pennsylvania Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jfinnerty@cnhi.com.