State Member Board Briefs

Arizona Medical Board Selects New Executive Director

The Arizona Medical Board has hired C. Lloyd Vest, II as its new executive director. Vest previously served as General Counsel for the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, where he provided general legal services, counsel to the Board, and prosecuted disciplinary actions and appeals.

Prior to his time with the Kentucky Board, Vest served as a staff attorney with the Kentucky Supreme Court and as a Kentucky assistant attorney general. He spent six years as a felony prosecutor in Louisville, Kentucky.

Vest received his JD degree from the University of Kentucky. Prior to law school, he served as a special agent in the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Source: Arizona Medical Board news release, Febuary 21, 2014; University of Kentucky HealthCare CECentral website, accessed March 7, 2014

Medical Board of California Executive Director Chosen

The Medical Board of California (MBC) has announced the appointment of Kimberly Kirchmeyer as its new executive director. Kirchmeyer has been with MBC since 1999, and has been serving as its interim executive director since June 2013.

She previously served as deputy director from 2005 to 2009, when she left to serve as deputy director of board and bureau relations for California's Department of Consumer Affairs. She returned to her position as deputy director at MBC in 2011. Kirchmeyer received her bachelor's degree from Pensacola Christian College in 1992.

Source: Medical Board of California news release, February 12, 2014

Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine Releases Discipline and Licensing Information for 2013–2014

The Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine has announced that it granted 854 licenses to doctors of osteopathy in 2013–2014, up from 844 in 2012–2013. New licenses have been on the increase since 2010–2011, when 774 were granted.

In releasing disciplinary statistics, the state announced that it had reached eight settlements, ordered one license surrender, one license denial, and two probations during the year. It sent 26 private letters of warning during 2013–2014.

Source: Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine NSBOM Newsletter, January 2014.

New York's PMP has Helped Reduce ‘Doctor Shopping’ by 75 Percent, according to New York Health Commissioner

New York's new online database of drug prescriptions has reduced the incidence of “doctor shopping” for controlled substances in the state by 75 percent, according to New York Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah.

MORE THAN 66,000 PRACTITIONERS HAVE USED THE STATE'S PRESCRIPTION MONITORING SYSTEM SINCE IT BECAME OPERATIONAL IN AUGUST 2013.

According to Shah, more than 66,000 practitioners have used the state's prescription monitoring system since it became operational in August 2013, checking prescriptions on nearly three million patients.

Health care professionals who prescribe must check the database before writing prescriptions for Schedule II, III, or IV controlled substances, including narcotic painkillers.

Since implementation of the new system — Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing (I-STOP) — the incidence of patients visiting multiple physicians to obtain controlled-substance medications has dropped dramatically.

The I-STOP initiative also has created new safe-disposal programs, providing New York residents with a safe method of disposing of expired, or unneeded medications, including the establishment of permanent drop box locations.

For more information, please visit www.health.ny.gov/professionals/narcotic/prescription_monitoring.

Source: Associated Press, February 4, 2014; National Association of Boards of Pharmacy website, accessed March 7, 2014

State Medical Board of Ohio Launches Opioid Prescribing Website

A diverse team of health care stakeholders in Ohio, including the state's medical board, has launched a website intended to strengthen Ohio's ongoing campaign against opioid abuse and misuse in the state.

The site, located at www.opioidprescibing.ohio.gov, features a variety of resources to help both health care professionals and patients reduce opioid abuse and misuse. The website was developed by the Governor's Cabinet Opiate Action Team (GCOAT), working with the State Medical Board of Ohio, several professional health care provider regulatory boards, health-care associations, providers, state agencies and other stakeholders.

The new website includes Ohio's new “Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for the Treatment of Chronic, Non-Terminal Pain,” adopted by the Board last year. Other resources include an educational video as well as information and links to Ohio's prescription drug monitoring program, Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS).

The Board reports that its partnership with OARRS, using the new website to combine educational materials and the state PDMP, represents a “best practice that offers insight into a patient's use of opioids and other controlled substances while also alerting prescribers to possibilities of medication conflicts and signs of abuse, addiction or diversion.”

RESOURCES INCLUDE AN EDUCATIONAL VIDEO AS WELL AS INFORMATION AND LINKS TO OHIO'S PRESCRIPTION DRUG MONITORING PROGRAM.

Ohio's OARRS system was recently updated to include a dosage calculator to assist prescribers in determining whether patients are at, near, or over the daily dose limitations highlighted in the Board's new opioid guidelines.

Medical Board of Ohio rules require physicians to access OARRS in various medical circumstances, including when a patient is exhibiting signs of drug abuse or diversion or if physicians have reason to believe treatment of a patient with controlled substances will continue for 12 weeks or more.

To learn more, visit www.opioidprescibing.ohio.gov.

Source: Your Report, State Medical Board of Ohio, December 2013

Ohio Regulators Take Aim at Preventing Accidents Among the Elderly

The State Medical Board of Ohio is partnering with the Ohio Department of Health to raise awareness of a serious public health problem in the state — accidental injuries among people 65 years and older.

Statistics show that one in three elderly people fall each year, and that health care providers can play a critical role in the prevention of falls and other accidents. To raise awareness of the role their licensees can play, the Board and the Ohio Department of Health are making available a special tool kit titled “Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries” (STEADI). The new resource includes basic information about falls, case studies, conversation starters, and standardized gait and balance assessment tests.

In addition, the tool kit includes educational handouts about fall prevention specifically designed for patients and their families. STEADI encourages health care providers to integrate simple screenings into their practices to help identify patients at risk for a fall. By addressing these risk factors, providers can significantly reduce their patients' chances of falling and suffering serious injuries — such as hip fractures.

For more information, visit www.healthy.ohio.gov/vipp/falls/STEADI.aspx.

Source: Your Report, State Medical Board of Ohio, December 2013

Texas Prescription Drug Monitoring System Access Expanded

The Texas Medical Board reports that changes in Texas state laws have extended access to prescription information in the state's prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) beyond midlevel practitioners to registered and vocational nurses and pharmacy technicians. The new laws have also lengthened the amount of time records are kept, from one year to three years.

Since the Texas PDMP launched in 2012, it has been widely used, with an estimated 45 million records uploaded each year and more than 150,000 users now accessing the system, according to the Board.

Called “Prescription Access in Texas,” the new system “has proven to be a valuable tool in identifying potential prescription drug abuse by providing controlled substance prescription dispensing history to authorized health care and law enforcement professionals,” the Board said in a statement.

Authorized users are able to search prescription dispensing histories for Schedule II-V controlled substances, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Source: TMB Bulletin, December 2013