Don’t limit the prescribing options for South Carolinians seeking to manage pain

When it comes to health care Midlands communities know far too well about the disadvantages of not having nearly enough options.

One example is through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guideline for prescribing opioids.

The guideline recommends that medical providers prescribe a Schedule II long-acting opioid as the first intervention for chronic pain instead of encouraging Schedule III alternatives.

This guideline immediately cuts out options for patients, and it amounts to yet another thumb on the scale that isolates patients from: a) choice and b) alternative paths to pursue.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aims to enhance communication between patients and health care providers costs and benefits of chronic pain therapy — while also empowering individuals to ensure safe and practical treatment — the current guideline misses the mark.

Whether it is too few hospitals, limited coverage options or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s strangling prescribing guideline, the health and well-being of Americans in rural and suburban communities are disproportionately neglected with wide-ranging ramifications.

Choice is paramount for patients and their doctors, and individualized patient care is key to addressing widespread problems in how South Carolinians receive treatment for chronic pain.

Physicians know their patients better than anyone, which is why they need the autonomy to properly deliver the best care.

A one-size-fits-all approach for patients — particularly regarding an issue as serious as pain management — is not the proper course.

Clinicians should consider new avenues for care that reduce the many harmful problems that have too often been associated with pain management, like addiction, abuse and the risk of respiratory depression.

Don’t limit options

There are already thorough, well-researched evaluations of pain management and pain management therapies that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should consider.

For example, the May 2019 Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Report from the Department of Health and Human Services provided a comprehensive set of recommendations and analysis.

Moving in a direction that enables clinicians and patients to pursue alternative treatments just makes sense for the Midlands and South Carolina as a whole.

It can begin the process of correcting widespread problems while empowering patients to get the care they need without the added risks and potential for abuse.

Physicians are already in short supply in too many communities across South Carolina and the United States. So why should the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescribing guideline further limit choice in parts of the country that desperately need more options?

The answer is simple.

Updating the guideline would be a step in the right direction to closing the gap between rural and urban communities.

State Rep. Chip Huggins represents District 85 in Lexington County and serves as chairman of the State House Regulations and Administrative Procedures Committee.

This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 7:28 PM.