Mass Medical Society Expands Advocacy on Opioid Crisis

Tuesday, May 02, 2017
GoLocalWorcester News Team

Mass Medical Society has expanded their advocacy in response to the opioid crisis by adding additional policies. Mass Medical made the announcement at their annual meeting in Boston on April 29. 

The new policies include advocate for a pilot supervised injection facility program in the state, to be under the direction and oversight of the state; promote standing orders for the narcotic-overdose drug naloxone by physicians and encourage private and public insurers to include the drug on its preferred drug list with minimal or no cost sharing;  advocate for access to medication-assisted treatments for state and county prisoners with opioid use disorder; urge the establishment and expansion of needle exchange programs; and reaffirm and amend existing policy to state that the Society recognizes addiction as a chronic, relapsing brain disease and that the Society will work to increase access to services for individuals with substance use disorder.

The adoption of these policies are latest in a list of actions taken by Mass Medical to address the opioid epidemic. 

Mass Medical’s Efforts Against Opioids 

Two years ago, Mass Medical created guidelines that outlined best practices for prescribers that were adopted by the state Board of Registration in Medicine. 

At the same time, Mass Medical started offering free educational course in opioids and pain management for all prescribers. To date, nearly 10,000 prescribers have taken over 28,000 courses.