New Pain Clinic Rules in Florida Gain Support

and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine issuances of Pain Clinic regulations/Standards of Care were applauded by The Florida Society of Pain Management Providers, according to a press release.

These regulations went into effect on Nov. 8, 2010 for Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine and will upon expected legislative confirmation go into effect this March for Medical Doctors (MD's).

The pain clinic rules were developed by the Pain Management Clinic Standards of Practice Joint Committee which was comprised of members from both medical boards and chaired by Fred Bearison, MD & Joel Rose, DO. According to reports, the rules place requirements "for standards of care, inspections,accreditation and training in pain-management practices."

Over a period of 14 months, the joint committee held approximately nine rules workshops which were then followed with four separate rules hearings in front of their respective boards (MD/DO). Over the fourteen months of workshops and hearings it could be estimated that the joint committee and full boards heard hundreds of hours of testimony along with receiving thousands of pages of written submissions.

Paul Sloan, president of the Florida Society of Pain Management Providers (FLSPMP) attended every rules workshop and hearing, presenting testimony and submitting over five-hundred pages of submissions in an effort to assist in the rules development. Sloan said, in a press release, "the members and supporting staff of the joint committee undertook a monumental task that most could never comprehend and over a period of fourteen months developed stringent but fair rules that will protect the citizens of Florida," he said, "the members should be applauded by all as this work was done by them on a purely volunteer basis."

Warren Pearson who formerly served as the Florida Department of Health's Chief Prosecutor of Pain Clinics and is currently the executive director of the FLSPMP said that, "these rules now give the Department of Health the tool that was needed to get into these clinics and prosecute those that are causing the problem."

Pearson and Sloan said, "We urge the legislators to affirm the Medical Doctor (MD) rules as their first course of business when the 2011 session convenes as further delays will only allow the problem to continue unchecked, unless they choose to affirm the rules sooner through a special session which we would support as does the Florida Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Academy of Pain Management."

The Florida Society of Pain Management Providers (FLSPMP) has three main principles: it focuses on ensuring “Floridians access to affordable and effective pain management through the use of controlled medications;” ensuring “physicians the right to treat chronic pain with controlled medications; and ensuring “that physicians and facilities operate in a safe and responsible manner.”

SOURCE: Florida Society of Pain Management Providers--Is Florida taking steps in the right direction in preventing misuse and abuse of prescription pain drugs? Leave a comment.