Profession
Maine to monitor prescriptions
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 2, 2004
With the help of a $300,000 federal grant and a compromise with the state medical association, a prescription-monitoring program was approved by the Maine Legislature.
"We originally opposed the bill three years ago, but we worked on it and worked on it, and the final version we did support," said Maine Medical Assn. Executive Vice President Gordon Smith, adding that the association fiercely opposed efforts to fund the program by adding a state fee to doctors' federal Drug Enforcement Administration licenses.
He also said that physicians will be involved in writing program protocols to ensure that prescriptions written for the proper treatment of pain will not result in doctors being investigated by law enforcement.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/08/02/prbf0802.htm.
