The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently declared that the state of Tennessee is one of the States in the country that have the highest per capita rate when it comes the use of painkillers. Recently, however, health officials have reported a significant decrease in the number of people trying to take up patient status with new doctors for the past three years, which has also affected the rate of prescription painkiller use within the state. Officials say that this is because of the new state law requiring each patient undergo drug history checks before they can be given prescriptions for painkillers.
According to a study conducted by the Tennessee Department of Health, there were over 2,000 patients who had the potential for shopping around for new doctors last year, but this number has fallen nearly 30% this year. Before the law was enforced for drug history checking, there was nothing that prevented patients from going from one doctor to another to obtain multiple prescriptions for drugs like Vicodin or Xanax. Under the new law, there are stricter guidelines that need to be followed even before the patient can obtain a refill of medications such as antianxiety, painkillers, and other controlled substances. Patients now face that possibility of database checking and the submission of urine samples for drug screening.
Dr. Brian Kalla, a rehabilitation doctor who treats patients who require pain medication regularly said that, "It is more time-consuming, and it adds expense, but at the end of the day it is probably better for practicing good medicine." Dr. Kalla said that drug testing for some patients have shown that they have not been taking the medicine prescribed for them, which means that they could have potentially been passing the drug products along to others, suggesting substance abuse.
Statistically, the Tennessee health department said that prescriptions for drugs such as anti-anxiety preparations like Xanax and Valium have already increased by more than 3% since the lot took effect. Opioid prescriptions for painkillers such as Vicodin, morphine, and oxyContin have also dropped by nearly 1%.