QCCPP to Meet on DEA Compliance

VHCA (3/19/2010)

As noted in last week’s eMemo, a meeting of the Quality Care Coalition for Patients in Pain (QCCPP) is scheduled for March 24th with the Senate Special Committee on Aging to address the impact of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) rules on long term care.  This hearing follows months of provider complaints that patients are being left to suffer in pain because DEA rules prevent timely dispensing of controlled medications and the DEA interpretation that licensed nurses working in long term care facilities are prohibited from acting as agents of the prescriber, thus preventing nurses from taking telephone orders for controlled medications as valid prescriptions. 

At the VHCA’s Regulatory Committee meeting on Wednesday providers were reminded that it is imperative for you to share your facility’s experiences related to delays in their ability to obtain pain medications for residents in a timely manner.  If you have not yet done so, please share your firsthand experiences immediately with how DEA policies cause patients to have pain medications delayed or even denied.  This will enable the QCCPP to have the information available at the meeting next week.  Click here to submit your incident report online.   All information collected will be held in strictest confidence.  For more information on the QCCPP click here.