WMS Opioid Working Group Recommendations

Top Advocacy Priority:

WMS will strongly oppose initiatives proposed by the Wyoming Legislature that represent unnecessary and inappropriate government overreach into the practice of medicine. WMS will continue to firmly advocate in support of physician autonomy and the ability for Wyoming providers to practice medicine without undue influence from outside forces.

Oppose legislation intended to apply universal prescribing limits to medicine. While WMS understands and appreciates the value that prescribing limits could play in certain specific instances, a one-size-fits-all approach will not serve well the patients of Wyoming. Discretion in prescribing should remain the decision of expertly-trained Wyoming healthcare professionals.

Opportunity for Compromise: If momentum builds behind this concept, WMS would have latitude in compromising and supporting legislation that defers specifics of prescribing limits to a joint effort of the Wyoming Board of Medicine and Wyoming Board of Pharmacy, but does not give authority over prescribing to members of the legislature.

 

Moderately Oppose:

Mandatory CMEproposals were discussed at length by the group with unanimous support of the value of education. WMS would oppose universal mandatory CME requirements tied to state physician licensure, but could support legislative initiatives requiring scheduled prescribing tied to a prescriber’s state controlled substance license with the DEA.

 

Mandatory Reporting to the PDMPis another area that WMS will oppose due to the unnecessary duplication it would create in Wyoming’s PDMP. All scheduled prescriptions are already reported into the state PDMP when dispensed and reporting at the time of writing the prescription would place undue burden on providers without any recognizable benefit to the issue of opioid abuse.

 

Support:

WMS is willing to support an initiative requiring all controlled substance prescribers to consult and check the PDMP prior to writing a new prescription for a Wyoming patient. This is something that does not cause an unreasonable increased burden on prescribers and can serve to further deter abuse of opioids.