Earlier this month, North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) staff met with Office of Rural Health representatives to discuss how to partner to combat the state’s prescription drug abuse problem. In the meeting, the NCMS discussed the 2015 budget legislation, which requires the state to create a Prescription Drug Abuse Advisory Committee charged with developing a strategic plan for combatting prescription drug abuse in North Carolina. The state will hold open public meetings to discuss this strategy going forward. Watch the Bulletin for information in these meetings.
The budget law also will require continuing education on the abuse of controlled substances as a condition of license renewal for health care providers who prescribe controlled substances. The NCMS will work with the NC Medical Board to ensure this requirement is implemented in a fair and transparent manner and will educate members on availability of CME courses to fulfil this new requirement.
The state also will be working on improvements to the Controlled Substances Reporting System (CSRS) in the near future. If you would like to provide feedback on improvements that could be made to the CSRS, please email us at [email protected]. The NCMS will continue to work with the state, legislature and the NC Medical Board to address this important issue.
