Proposed federal limits to opioid prescriptions draw opposition from physicians and patients
By Lev Facher @levfacher | March 6, 2018
ASHINGTON — In the final hours of public input on a controversial new rule limiting opioid prescriptions, a last-minute coalition emerged on Monday to oppose it.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rule would restrict opioid doses to Medicare patients to the equivalent of 90 milligrams of morphine per day.
But a vocal group of doctors, pain patients, and public health experts — including three who contributed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s own prescribing guidelines — emerged near the Monday deadline to voice their opposition via comment, letter, and social media.
Hundreds of comments had been submitted to the CMS website on the rule as of Monday afternoon — the vast majority in opposition.
Dozens of other academics, doctors, and editors of pain journals have signed on to a letter claiming the proposed rule constitutes overreach by CMS into medical treatment and would carry serious consequences for the 1.6 million Medicare beneficiaries who reached that threshold for at least one day in 2016.
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https://www.statnews.com/2018/03/06/cms-rule-limits-opioid-prescriptions/
