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Bill aimed at reducing accidental drug overdoses in Ohio

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News

Published: July 28, 2015

The sponsors of House Bill 248 have described the proposal as an additional measure designed to cut at the root of Ohio’s addiction epidemic.

Known as the Abuse-Deterrent Technology bill, HB 248 would require that certain health insurers and the Medicaid program provide coverage for abuse-deterrent opioid analgesic drugs.

Since 2007, unintentional drug overdose has been the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio.

“Sadly, the overdose death toll continues its unrelenting climb,” Rep. Nickie Antonio told members of the House Health and Aging Committee.

“Recently, the 2013 overdose statistics were released by the Ohio Department of Health. There were a total of 2,110 overdoses recorded, which is about a 10 percent increase from 2012.”

Antonio, D-Lakewood, said more than 72 percent of the 2013 overdose deaths were related to opioids and almost half of the deaths were caused by prescription narcotics.

“There is a reason as to why the addiction problem is this severe. Our medical system utilizes five vital signs to measure a patient’s level of health,” she said.

“These signs include temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and pain level. Following a federal push in the 1990s to add pain as the fifth vital sign, numerous states passed legislation to ensure chronic pain was being treated effectively.”

Shortly after these reforms, Antonio said addiction to opioids became rampant.

“Ohio dispensed about 80 million doses of prescription narcotics in 2003. By 2013, the number of doses dispensed had increased to about 828 million,” she said.

“There is a direct, nearly one to one, correlation between the number of prescription narcotics coming out of the medical system and unintentional overdose deaths.”

According to the National Survey on Drug Use in Households, more than 75 percent of nonmedical users of prescription narcotics use drugs that were prescribed to someone else.

When individuals snort or inject these narcotics, after crushing or dissolving them, they receive a quicker and more aggressive high.

To prevent these practices, abuse-deterrent formulations were introduced.

“Although there is always a chance of abuse by swallowing whole prescription narcotic pills, research has shown that abuse-deterrent formulations have decreased illegal diversion and use,” Antonio said.

Without worrying about their patient’s specific insurance policy, HB 248 would give prescribers the opportunity to utilize tamper-resistant forms of these highly abused substances.

The proposed legislation is jointly sponsored by Antonio and Rep. Robert Sprague, R-Findlay.

Under the bill, health insurance plans would be required to provide coverage for abuse-deterrent formulations, and prescribers will have the opportunity to decide if abuse-deterrent formulations are acceptable for certain patients.

The bill would apply to health insuring corporations, sickness and accident insurers, multiple employer welfare arrangements, public employee benefit plans and the Medicaid program.

“The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has begun moving in the direction proposed by HB 248, and we commend them for taking abuse-deterrent formulations into consideration,” Antonio said.

“Promoting the utilization of abuse-deterrent formulations will be another way for the State of Ohio to combat our current addiction epidemic, and this bill will focus on attacking the problem at its source.”

Antonio said Ohio’s drug epidemic not only takes its toll on individuals with an addiction and their families, but it negatively impacts the whole state.

“Our businesses are hungry for workers, but many that apply can’t pass a drug test. As a result, food stamp usage and Medicaid rolls are swelling. The courts and jails are overflowing, and our prisons are packed beyond capacity,” she said.

“Our law enforcement officers are struggling to keep up with ongoing occurrences of drug-related crimes and other crimes that result from addiction. Children are being born addicted, entering the foster care system at alarming rates or being raised by their relatives.”

Furthermore, Antonio said it is estimated that the opioid addiction epidemic is costing Ohio more than $3.5 billion in medical, work loss and quality-of-life loss costs.

“It is high time for us to take the necessary steps to stem the tide of the epidemic and HB 248 builds on the prior work that has been completed by the governor, attorney general and General Assembly,” she said.

HB 248 is co-sponsored by Reps. Denise Driehaus, Doug Green, Terry Johnson, Michele Lepore-Hagan, William Reineke, Jeffrey Rezabek, John Rogers and Kent Smith.

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