Update PA legislation to treat chronic pain

Please reach out to your peers in the Minnesota State Legislative branch to learn about Minnesota H.F. 3786 and S.F. 3566. These bills represent a fundamental change in the doctor/patient relationship when treating severe chronic pain. Today, many states follow guidelines presented by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations entitled, “2016 Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain" to determine what a safe and legal amount of opioid medication is. Those guidelines were found to be harmful to patients in severe chronic pain, such as patients with cancer, in hospice, people who require palliative care, and others. Minnesota's new guidelines specify treatment that puts the doctor/patient relationship in the forefront, including a letter of treatment intent signed by both the doctor and the patient, that goes in the patient's medical files. It also includes specific legislation that protects doctors who prescribe opioids at levels appropriate to severe chronic pain from punishment for doing so. It protects patients by confirming that pharmacies must fill the prescriptions. Pennsylvania needs similar legislation. It is true that we are in the midst of an opioid crisis, and treatment of that crisis must continue. It is also true that restricting people who truly need their medication to function in society due to severe chronic pain is cruel and unjust. As documented in the testimony around Minnesota's bill, patients who cannot adequately reduce their pain legally often turn to illegal substances or suicide instead. Please introduce and pass chronic pain treatment legislation in Pennsylvania to protect our patients, doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies.